UNCTAD facing up to the 21st Century - TWN Africatwnafrica.org/Agenda 19.3 new.pdfISSUE Vol. 19 No.3 2016 US$5.00 GB£3.00 €5.00 UNCTAD facing up to the 21st Century TWN-AFRICA AND

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UNCTAD facing upto the 21st CenturyUNCTAD facing upto the 21st Century

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COVER

UNCTAD's mandate under threat………............................... page 5

Towards UNCTAD XIV, the Secretary-General's perspective…................................................................................... page 9

UNCTAD's work on gender and trade: progress and challenges…..................................................................................... page 10

Reclaim UNCTAD to uphold Africa's structural economic transformation…......................................................... page 13

Letter from Global Civil Society on UNCTAD's role and mandate……........................................................................... page 16

South against restricting or downgrading UNCTAD's mandate……….............................................................................. page 18

DEVELOPMENT

'Free trade' in trouble in the United States……...................... page 21

Indigenous peoples insist on equality of all rights…............... page 24

Microfinance could wind up being the new subprime…….. page 26

GENDER

Leaving no African woman behind: financing gender in the post-MDG era…................................................................. page 28

ENVIRONMENT

African fisheries plundered by foreign fleets……….............. page 31

A crisis 'lost in the ocean'-drought and climate change in Madagascar….................................................................................. page 33

POLITICS

South Sudan's challenges………................................................ page 35

INTERNATIONAL

Civil society in Latin America campaigns against Trans-Pacific Partnership….......................................................... page 37

Contents

4 AFRICAN AGENDA VOL.19 NO.3

5AFRICAN AGENDA VOL.19 NO.3

UNCTAD 14 is critical. UNCTAD'sfuture work mandate will be sub-ject to another round of fierce

inter-governmental contestation, as is nowalmost the routine at these quadrennialconferences, in particular since the founda-tion of the WTO. The outcome will deter-mine the organisation's continued abilityfor independent and critical policy perspec-tives among other multilateral institutionsof economic governance and thinking.

Would UNCTAD continue to providethe much needed corrective and balance tothe chorus of positions that usually emanatefrom dominant players like the World Bank,IMF, the WTO, the OECD, and the like?Or will be a corrective whose value, if everin doubt, has been repeatedly affirmed incritical moments of international crises -from the Asian financial crises of the late1990s to the still reverberating 2008 globalfinancial and economic crisis? Or would it

finally end up as a pale reflection of thedominant thinking and policies, with itstask reduced essentially to supporting poor-er countries of Africa and other parts of theworld implement and live with these poli-cies as best as they can?

UNCTAD 14 is also occasion for fac-ing up to an even more abiding concern.However much the quadrennial attacks onUNCTAD's independent role have beenkept abay and the organisation been able to

UNCTAD's mandate under threat

COVER

As UNCTAD's quadrennial conference comes underway in Nairobi, Kenya,

the foundational mission of the UN agency is more contested at the time it is most needed

argues * Tetteh Hormeku.


continue providing critical and alternativepolicy perspectives, a trajectory hasemerged over time. The compelling visionfor which UNCTAD came into existence --that of being the self-conscious platform forthinking and action on broad issues of tradeand development, explicitly formulatedaround the problems, challenges, and per-spectives of the vulnerable and marginalisedmajority of nations and their peoples withinthe international system - has steadily erod-ed. With this also has subsided the organi-sation's mission to consistently work for arecalibration/re-organisation of the statusquo, in order to create appropriate space forthe marginalised to overcome their situa-tion.

CommentaryIn its place has emerged, in zigzag fash-

ion, an eclectic menu of efforts - in oneinstance, helping to achieve the smoothintegration of the marginalised into theglobal order; in another instance, seekingto curb the worst excesses of this order, andtheir effect on the marginalised; in yetanother, seeking to reverse particular ten-dencies of that with alternatives that arenone-too clear. Even in these, its role hasbeen reduced essentially to analysis andcommentary.

This is unfortunate. Especially in thesetimes when, for African (and many otherdeveloping) countries and their peoples,old vulnerabilities are re-asserting them-selves with even more disastrous effect; newvulnerabilities have emerged (both of these,thanks fundamentally to the very workingsof the international order); and when newinitiatives are surfacing among these coun-tries and in many circles aiming to counterthese dangers.

In these times, the need for a globalinstitutional framework with the founda-tional vision and mission of UNCTAD iseven more urgent. And the least that pro-gressive forces can do is to start a “conversa-tion” on this imperative, drawing attentionto and upon UNCTAD and its vicissitudes,debate how and to what extent its originalmandate can be resurrected for our times,and if not, how to go about filling the gapleft by its evolution.

UNCTAD was created 50 years ago “asinclusive and forward-thinking trade anddevelopment agenda initiated by the devel-oping world, on behalf of the developingworld, with a vision of prosperity for all…(It) provided the means through which the

South … could voice its collective ambitionand mobilise the international communityto deliver on the economic promise of polit-ical independence for the benefit of all theworld's citizens” (S-G Report)

This ambition and its related goals andagenda were anchored in a clear-eyed andsober understanding that very structure(s)of the international economic order ---characterised at one pole by a small concen-tration of highly industrialised economies,and at the other pole, by a mass of primarycommodity export dependent economiesfeeding the needs of the industrialeconomies --- served to produce immenseprosperity in a few parts of the world, butgenerated poverty and constrained the eco-nomic well-being for the vast majorities inthe developing world.

To these structural roots of globalinequality were aadded the aggravation ofan international trade regime (then encap-sulated in the GATT) which over-empha-sised the “free play of international eco-nomic forces”, and based the interactionbetween all countries, however different intheir economic structures, on the equal playof these economic forces.

Response By way of response to this, UNCTAD's

specific agenda came to be guided by threeconcrete pillars-the necessity of industriali-sation for the newly independent countries,and thus the challenge of addressing the pri-mary commodity export dependent eco-nomic structures; the need to counter-bal-ance the so-called free-play of economicforces and in particular their effects on thedeveloping economies through purposiveaction by governments and intergovern-mental organisations; and the need for dif-ferent treatment and obligations for struc-turally different types of economies withininternational regimes.”

Within this framework, UNCTAD'sprogrammes of analyses, decisions andactions generated a series of agreementsand principles that contributed to shape theinternational trade and developmentregime to the benefit of both developingcountries and the community of nations asa whole. The Generalised System ofPreferences; the principles of differentialand more favourable treatment for lessdeveloped countries in international tradeagreements; the treaties, conventions andresolutions which opened up internationalshipping hitherto dominated by cartels

from the North to developing country play-ers; the set of principles on restrictive busi-ness practices - these are cases whereUNCTAD's work not only generatedresults for developing economies whichwould otherwise not have been attainedwithin the existing framework, but alsohelped reshape the nature of the globalregime in a more equitable and inclusivedirection.

Even in those areas such the interna-tional commodity arrangments whereresults had not been as substantive as antic-ipated, UNCTAD's interventions served toretain a continued international focus onthese fundamental challenges and inspiredinnovative perspectives round them, rather

than otherwise being relegated to the back-yards of international concerns. Equallyimportant was UNCTAD's catalytic effecton other institutions of global economicgovernance such as the IMF and the WorldBank, as indicated in the significantinstances in which these institutions havehad to adopt measures to address problemswhich, before UNCTAD's interventions,had either not been seen as worthy of inter-ventions or ignored.

Above all, UNCTAD legitimised andenabled a sustained focus on the need toaddress issues affecting and the challengesconfronting less developed economies andtheir peoples, as questions that could notbe simply relegated to the general workingsof the international order. Rather these

COVER

“The compelling vision for

which UNCTAD came into

existence -- that of being the

self-conscious platform for

thinking and action on broad

issues of trade and develop-

ment, explicitly formulated

around the problems,

challenges, and perspectives

of the vulnerable and margin-

alised majority of nations and

their peoples within the

international system - has

steadily eroded.”


COVER

were questions to be treated on their ownterms by all members of international com-munity, and the solutions of which mayrequire the re-ordering of global prioritiesor if need be (fundamental) restructuring ofthe international system and regimes ofeconomic relations among countries andpeople.

Thus it has been the merit, for instance,of the engagements around the NewInternational Economic Order, that even asthis petered-out in the long-run, it stillfocused the attention of governments andpeople all around the world on the funda-mental constraints to, and thus key actionsneeded to achieve, an equitable internation-al economic order; generated a sharedmind-set and orientation among a substan-tial segments of peoples and governments;and produced a slew of principles and val-ues that have become embedded in variousaspects of international dealings and inter-actions.

Neo-liberalIt goes without saying this historical

trajectory of UNCTAD was curtailed in theneo-liberal backlash of the 1980's againstthese and other elements of the strivings bythe peoples and nations of the developingworld for global equity, which foundexpression in a sustained attack not only onnationalist projects of the developing coun-tries, but also in the supportive dimensionsof the United Nation's system. The organi-sation, had begun, in the turbulence andturmoil of the neo-liberal ascendancy of the

1980s, to lose its power of decision andindependence of will on international mat-ters. This was consolidated in the neo-lib-eral free-market triumphalism of the 1990's,above all, in the culmination of the GATT/Uruguay Round negotiations in a resultunanticipated at the start of the negotia-tions-the establishment of a new full-blowninstitution of international trade, the WTO.

Thenceforward, the unique place ofUNCTAD among the institutions of globaleconomic governance began to be treatedas self-evident no-longer. From the 1996Conference in Midrand, South Africa, thequadrennial UNCTAD conferencesbecame forums for governmental hagglingover the continued existence of UNCTAD.Each ended with UNCTAD's continuance,but on increasingly variegated premiseswhich swung with the ups and down's in thefortunes of neo-liberal globalisation. Thesepremises ranged, at one extreme, in theheady days following the establishment ofthe WTO, from helping developing coun-tries build a positive agenda for integrationinto the emerging order of globalisation.

At the other end has been the resur-gence in recent times, in the wake of disas-ters of the neo-liberal project from theAsian finaical crises, trough the CancunWTO debacle, the global rise of food pricesin 2007 and the still reverberating 2008global financial and economic crisis, of rela-tively independent role around as issues ofpoverty and international trade, commodi-ty issues, and global finance. In the mean-time some of the great principles and val-

ues, as well as intellectual and policy ideasgenerated by UNCTAD or for which UNC-TAD stood either disappear or exist inextremely distorted forms.

CompromiseEach resultant affirmation of the UNC-

TAD mandate has been the compromisebetween advanced industrial countriesseeking to close down UNCTAD or reduceit simply to the provision of technical assis-tance to poorer developing countries tomeet their obligations of globalisation; andon the other hand, a fight-back from thedeveloping countries. Even then the devel-oping countries can be said to have collud-ed by their stances in the continually nar-rowing terms within which this strugglehave been conducted and their ensuing out-comes.

The height of this was the days when,drunk on the promises of globalisation,African and other developing countriesrushed to the join the WTO and its agree-ments which were the very anti-thesis ofeverything they had fought for in UNC-TAD. Even when they sobered up to therealisation of the grim realities of globalisa-tion and its effects on their countries anddevelopmental prospects, most of thesecountries continued to approach the issueas to how to carve out some space withinneo-liberal globalisation.

For many African countries in particu-lar, the thinking continued to be set interms not of how to re-think their place inthe global order and related strategy ofdevelopment, but how to aquire capacity tomeet the challenges of living in this order.Thus many an African government and pol-icy official whether at national and interna-tional level have come to treat UNCTAD as

“Even when they sobered up to

the realisation of the grim

realities of globalisation and

its effects on their countries

and developmental prospects,

most of these countries

continued to approach the

issue as to how to carve out

some space within neo-liberal

globalisation.“

Committee meeting


COVER

a place for defining and acquiring technicalassistance and capacity building.

Ultimately, this came to be reflected inthe fact that the contestations aroundUNCTAD's mandate are couched andresolved in terms how much lee-way to giveUNCTAD in research and policy on globalissues which others are supposed already tobe dealing with.

Without doubt even in these narrowterms, how these contestationare resolvedin the coming UNCTAD 14 will be impor-tant for Africa. Thus there are real differ-ences in content and implications forAfrican (and other developing) countries asto whether or not UNCTAD's work ontrade facilitations should be simply to helpthese countries implement the WTO TradeFacilitation Agreement, or whether thisshould both affirm the need for capacitybuilding for developing countries, as well asinvolve a broader approach which involveshelping these countries to improve theirexport potential as an explicit point ofdeparture.

There are different implications forAfrican countries as to whether UNCTADshould support simply the “trade andinvestment in, exchange and use of environ-mentally sound technologies” or in additionto “facilitating the transfer and adaptationof green technology”. And there is a differ-ence as to whether UNCTAD simply “con-tribute to supporting effective public-pri-vate partnerships” in order to promote sus-tainable development or do it in line “witheach country's national development strate-gies.” It is also important whether or notUNCTAD has a mandate to do analyticalwork on the reform of BITs.

NarrowHowever, the problems confronting

African countries and the interventionscalled-for go beyond the narrow terms ofthese and other actions which form theparameters of the debate on UNCTAD'smandate.

Three decades of neo-liberal policieshave served to reinforce the structures thatAfrica's economies inherited from colonial-ism, as dependent on the export of (a nar-row basket of hardly processed) primarycommodities, with little or no domesticmanufacturing industrial capacity, and thestagnation of the rural economy; and theythereby remain vulnerable to externalshocks while, internally, unremitting ruralcollapse continues to drive levels of urbani-

sation unrelated to the expansion of eco-nomic opportunity and/or investment insocial and economic infrastructure.

The human meaning of this jobless-ness, precarious and degraded livelihoods,and diminished opportunities for self-fulfil-ment of the majority of the people, at thesame time as fabulous wealth continues toconcentrate in the hands of narrow circlesof national elites and global corporateforces who together dominate politicalprocesses and exercise control over eco-nomic resources. These extremes ofinequality have exacerbated pre-existinginequities and inequalities, including gen-der, race, ethnic formations; played havocwith bonds of social solidarity within andacross national boundaries; and have drivenconflict-laden tensions to the fore of socie-tal interactions.

All these have been heightened in thecontinuing reverberations of the 2008 glob-al financial and economic crises, for whichAfrica bore little responsibility, but havehad to suffer some of its worst effects. Ontop of this is climate change which threat-ens the survival of human-kind. AgainAfrica bears little of the responsibility forthis, and yet is set to suffer, and is alreadysuffering disproportionately its worsteffects, with little of the resources needed toaddress it.

All these are expressions of dynamics atthe very core of the working of internation-al economic system and the global orderand policy regimes built thereupon. Thekind of root-and branch conversations andactions need to address them, and specifici-ty with which they must be informed by theparticular condition of the Africa and othervulnerable nations and peoples recallsexactly UNCTAD's foundational mission.

Effective ConsolidationThe initiatives that African countries

themselves have began to adopt, somedefinitively like the Africa Mining Vision,others tentatively like the CFTA, require,for their effective consolidation and equi-table realisation, the kind of inter-govern-mental forum encapsulated in UNCTAD asthen.

This kind of UNCTAD will be silentand invisible in the coming deliberations ofUNCTAD 14. Here even the awareness ofthe nature of the problems is glaring by itsabsence. Fragments of this it appears willbe limited to the pages of the Secretary-General's 2015 report, and will remain only

that -fragments; they have not found theirway into the draft text which forms the basisfor negotiating UNCTAD's next mandate.So the compelling foundational missionand agenda of UNCTAD is missing when itmost needed.

African and other governments maycontinue to limit themselves by operatingwithin the narrow confines of UNCTAD'snow established parameters. But civil soci-ety organisations and progressive socialforces from Africa and beyond have a dutyto begin, at the very least, to draw attentionto the gap created by UNCTAD's evolu-tion, and start a dialogue around it. Doneeffectively, even the governments may, asthey have done many times before, evenwithin the UNCTAD space, rise up to thechallenge.

But to be effective, such a conversationcannot be couched in general deliberationsof what UNCTAD stood for or not.Rather, they are best based on concreteexaminaton of the strucrtural nature of theproblems facing Africa at this time in the 21century, the fundamental parameters of theimperative of structural economic transfor-mation which in now subject of many gen-eral proclamations and rhetoric, and howUNCTAD's historical role can be refur-bished for these times.

* Tetteh Hormeku is Head of Programmes,TWN-Africa

“African and other govern-

ments may continue to limit

themselves by operating with-

in the narrow confines of

UNCTAD's now established

parameters. But civil society

organisations and progressive

social forces from Africa and

beyond have a duty to begin,

at the very least, to draw

attention to the gap created

by UNCTAD's evolution, and

start a dialogue around it.”


COVER

UNCTAD Secretary General,Mukhisa Kituyi, has noted thatUNCTAD XIV, 'will mark a critical

moment not only for economic and socialprogress in the developing world, but alsofor the common future of all countries andcommunities.' Continuing he said, 'As thefirst United Nations ministerial conferenceof the post-2015 era, it will represent a start-ing point to translate the heightened ambi-tions and commitments of the internationalcommunity into concrete plans of action.The Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the sus-tainable development goals and the expect-ed call for action at Conference of the par-ties on climate change in Paris togetherembody an immensely challenging andinterrelated programme: we must mobilizeall available financial, human and entrepre-neurial resources to foster inclusive growthand eradicate poverty while decarbonizingthe global economy-all within the next 15years. '

Whilst acknowledging that over thepast couple of decades 'nearly I billion peo-

ple have been lifted outof poverty', SecretaryGeneral Kituyi, admit-ted also that,'Inequalities persist orhave widened, often-times linked to thesame forces that havehelped raised ourcapacity to generatewealth, and the gainsfrom globalizationhave been unevenlydistributed. Islands ofprosperity surroundedby poverty are incom-patible with the worldthat we strive for. Newvulnerabilities and riskshave emerged, linkedin particular to the riseof “casino capitalism”and unhealthy depend-ence on debt. Financialshocks and crises have

become more frequent, setting back devel-opment prospects by years and, in someextreme cases, by decades.'

The Secretary General noted thatUNCTAD was, 'initiated by the developingworld, on behalf of the developing world,with a vision of prosperity for all' and is'equipped to address the challenges thatjeopardize human dignity, economicgrowth and the health of our planet.' In con-nection with this, UNCTAD's report of theSecretary General, entitled, 'FromDecisions to Actions', ' underscores fouraction lines needed to fulfill the ambitionsof the post-2015 development agenda'.These action lines are to result in the 'build-ing of productive capacity to transformeconomies; more effective States and moreefficient markets; tackling vulnerabilities,building resilience; and strengthening mul-tilateralism, finding common solutions.'

In its bid to achieve the above goals,UNCTAD proposes mobilizing resourcesfor productive capacity building as one ofthe major actions to be taken. These shall

include domestic resource mobilization,stemming capital flight and illicit financialflows as well as better harnessing of privateresources both domestic and foreign. Insupport of this it has also called for theleveraging technology for productive capac-ity. This will mean closing the technologicalgap through spreading technologicaladvancements.

Promoting private sector enterprisedevelopment is another intended action byUNCTAD. Thus it calls on governments tocreate the 'enabling environment' throughpolicy framework and other means toenhance the establishment of microenter-prises and medium-sized enterprises. Insupport of this is the need to scale up infra-structure services as well as investing inskills and leadership development.

Steps should also be taken by govern-ments aimed at overcoming financial andeconomic volatility as, 'volatility, short-ter-mism and boom and bust cycles not onlythreaten to delay recovery, but can alsomake countries slide back in their econom-ic development…..'

Also critical as pointed out by UNC-TAD again is the need ensure that the vari-ous strata of society are not left behind andthat women, especially are empowered.

At the international level the reportemphasizes the need for strengthening mul-tilateralism and finding common solutions.This will require supporting global eco-nomic governance and reform of the inter-national financial system.

In conclusion, Secretary-GeneralKituyi, called for, 'concerted efforts by gov-ernments, international institutions, non-governmental organizations and the corpo-rate sector' who all have the potential towork for a 'more prosperous, more equi-table and sustainable' world. He assured allthat, 'UNCTAD stands ready to play its rolein the task ahead.'

* Excerpts from, 'From Decisions to Actions;Report of the Secretary- General of UNCTADto UNCTAD XIV'.

Towards UNCTAD XIV, the Secretary General's perspective

UNCTAD Secretary General, Mukhisa Kituyi


COVER

International trade, both throughexports and through the liberalisation ofimports, plays an important role in eco-

nomic development. Trade is credited withthe strong growth performance of newlyindustrialised countries such as SouthKorea, Taiwan and Singapore as well as theemerging markets of Brazil, China andIndia. This narrative is incomplete, howev-er;what is often not well stated is that rarelyhas simply selling goods acrossbordersmade a nation wealthy for the long haul.History shows that for long-term sustain-able wealth and economic and social devel-opment, countries manage their tradingrelationships.

A strategic approach to trade policyand trade-related development is crucial fordeveloping countries to benefit from trade

and to unlock any significant and sustaineddividends for poverty reduction andemployment creation (beyond the tradi-tional absorption of cheap labour). This ismore important than ever in this age of ris-ing competitiveness, persistent global slow-down and stagnation in employment,national and globally.

Since the structural adjustment pro-grammes of 1980s, export-oriented devel-opment strategies became the gold standardin the developing world. These strategiesproduced a significant shift of female work-ers into labour-intensive manufacturingproduction. This in turn has led to a posi-tive correlation between a country's share ofexports and the female share of employ-ment in labour-intensive industries.

While there have been positive

impacts, especially at the individual level,this economic structure has not been asso-ciated with commensurate changes in thesocial role and mobility of women.This hasraised questions with regard to the potentialand limitations of export-oriented develop-ment strategies - andby extension, of inter-national trade - in terms of their impact ongender equality and women's economic andsocial empowerment.

GapsConcerns related to gender and the

empowerment of women are central to andinextricably intertwined with issues of thepathways of trade expansion and tradeintensification on decent work, wages -including gender wage gaps, and the poten-tial of female (and male) owned micro- and

By contrast to other inter-governmental agencies, UNCTAD's work on gender and trade has

been focused and consistent, rather than driven by negotiating cycles or publication needs.

This is an aspect of UNCTAD's work that can be further strengthened, with governments

encouraged to adopt emerging policy insights at the national level writes *Mariama Williams

with contributions from Manuel Montes.

UNCTAD's work on gender and trade:progress and challenges

Participants at Gender and Trade workshop


COVER

small businesses to scaleup to increasinglylarger-sized enterprises that would enablesustainable livelihoods and a life with digni-ty.

These issues have been the persistentconcerns of gender and women's rightsactivists, academic researchers and policy-makers working on international trade anddevelopment from a feministperspective.That activism has ebbed andflowed over the last twenty years, and signif-icantly weakened since the mid-2000s. Intothis breach came the acceleration of inter-ests by international organizations andrelated work, much of it sporadic andseem-ingly driven by negotiations or publicationthematic cycles.

Through UNCTAD XIII's DohaMandate, particularly paragraphs 8, 51 and56, gender issues have been integrated morecoherently and concretely into UNCTAD'swork programme. Today, UNCTAD's gen-der-and-trade work is situated under theGender and Development programme,within the Division of International Tradeand Commodities. With at least four corestaff members, the gender-and-trade teamhas conducted a number of expert meetingson gender, trade and women's empower-ment and has completed a comprehensiveseries of seven country case studies(Angola, Bhutan, Cape Verde, the Gambia,Lesotho, Rwanda, and Uruguay) geared tohelping policy-makers look at trade policy

througha gendered lens. According toUNCTAD,through its work programme onTrade, Gender and Development, it 'sup-ports its member countries to assess the dis-tinct effect of macro-economic policies,including, trade policy on men and women,boys and girls.'

UNCTAD's work on gender and tradehas been pivotal - especially in light of thedrop-off in women's NGO and civil societyorganizing in this area- in continuing togenerate evidence and data on the degree ofintegration and impact of women into tradepractice on the ground in developing coun-tries. While this work does not have thepolitical direction and advocacy focus ofwomen's gender and trade activism (whichintends to influence trade policy and tradeagreement negotiations), it nonethelessserves a critical role in sustaining the empir-ical and policy basis forlooking at the out-come of trade policies and practices on gen-der equality and women's empowerment.

EmpowermentThis 'builds a more rigorous founda-

tion upon which to advance the global dis-course on trade policy as a tool for econom-ic growth, women's empowerment and gen-der equality' (UNCTAD 2016). UNCTADargues that the ultimate objective of itswork on trade and gender is to make tradeinstrumental to the achievement of genderequality and women's economic empower-ment, as a means to ensure inclusive devel-

opment.In light of ongoing upheavals in the

international political economy, however,namely the stillbirth of the DohaDevelopment Agenda at the WTO, the rise

of mega-regional trade deals, the pushtowards plurilateral agreementssuch asthose on government procurement, andgreater incursion of trade rules into 'behindthe border' issues (trade facilitation, com-petition policy and other traditional domes-tic regulations), there is some uncertaintyabout the benefits to developing countriesfrom trade itself. Evenless clarity exists,therefore, regarding the potential of trade toaccelerate the forward momentum on gen-der equality and women's empowerment.

Mega-regional trade deals such as theFree Trade Area of Asia Pacific (FTAAP),the Transpacific Partnership (TPP, encom-passing the US and 11 Pacific nations), theTransatlantic Trade and InvestmentPartnership (TTIP), and the RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP), among others, are generatingchanges in the global trade and investmentlandscape. According to many economists,these mega blocs have a dual character: theyare simultaneously 1) trade agreements,focused on reducing barriers to sellinggoods; and 2) production sharing agree-ments, focused on the further international-ization of the global value chain productionprocesses).They also push for deeper serv-ices liberalisation, WTO-plus intellectualproperty rights and investment provisions.

Increasingly, these mega-regional tradeand economic blocs are seen as the mainloci of global trade governance, instead ofthe WTO.At the same time, there is increas-ing consolidation and deepening of existingregional integration thrust such as the pushfor PACER Plus, which Pacific civil societyare resisting due to its likely far reaching andpotentially adverse implications on localpeople and economies. In sub-regionalblocs of Africa, the EU-driven EconomicPartnership Agreements (EPAs) are fearedto have likewise untoward economicimpacts on the lives and livelihoods ofwomen, men, girls and boys in the countriesthat will be affected by these arrangements.

Rapid deepening of trade and invest-ment liberalization poses opportunities andchallenges for developing countries nowand in the future. Deepened liberalizationhas implications for employment, businessgrowth and sustainability, governmentalrevenues, health care, and access to basicsocial and infrastructural services. Giventhese unfoldings, increasingly explicit ques-tions are being raised about trade as a toolfor the economic empowerment of women.

“Deepened liberalization has

implications for employment,

business growth andsustain-

ability, governmental rev-

enues, health care, and access

to basic social and infrastruc-

tural services.”


COVER

Trade and the empowerment of

womenEconomic empowerment is a complex

process. There are many approaches. TheInternational Center for Research onWomen (ICRW), argues:Economic empowerment comprises of twointer-related components: 1) economicadvancement and 2) power and agency.Economic gain and success (economicadvancement) promote women's powerand agency. At the same time, when awoman is able to control and share inresource use (power) and to define andmake choices (agency), she is better able toadvance economically.

Policy-makers, including trade policydecision-makers, must seek to 'design effec-tive, measurable interventions to advancewomen economically' taking into accountthe differential status and starting point andaccess points of women, relative to men inthe society. Thus 'well-designed interven-tions are required to facilitate women's andmen's economic mobility across sectors andoccupations, and to widen their options'(ICRW).

Current dynamics of trade and genderdemonstrate that much work remainstowards achieving these objectives.

Missing componentsSeveral prominent aspects are missing

from gender and trade work, including theconstraints around developing countries'policy space, as highlighted by Montes(2016) at the recent UNCTAD expertgroup meeting. Particularly important is thedegree of and the constraints around policyspaceavailable to developing countries (i.e.,to regulate private capital flows) to imple-ment measures to propel their economiesforward so as to address development gaps,including social and equity gaps.

In addition to this focus, other areasthat needs to be upfront in the work on gen-der and trade, whether undertaken byUNCTAD's unit or UN Women or in jointcollaboration, include more explicit link-ages of the transfer cost and adjustmentburden of trade reform induced by liberali-sation the household economy. This mustparticularly focus on men's and women'stime useand unpaid labour. It is also impor-tant to explicitly link the lack of policy spaceor the under-utilisation of existing policyspace to gender equality and women'sempowerment issues. Gender equality andwomen's labour and time are not stand-

alone issues removed from the conditionsof the exercise of global macroeconomic,exchange rate and financial policies. Rather,they are very intimately inter-connected, asthey may exacerbate and perpetuate boomsand bust cycles in the domestic economy.

Another serious missing dimension ofthe gender-and-trade work is the lack ofactive and systematic participation of gen-der and women's rights activism. Criticalfeminist political economy approaches areneeded to inform current issues on thetrade agendas of boththe WTO and the dis-course around mega-regional trade blocs.

New directions and the way

forwardFuture work needs to focus on the dis-

tinction between tradable goods versusexport orientation. Women are moreinvolved in tradable food, particularly inagriculture, including those sold on thedomestic market, and not just export-ori-ented production. Much of the focus of cur-rent and past research has been on women'sas instruments in the export-oriented sec-tor.In the current context, however, tradeliberalisation in the manufacturing sectorprivileges large-scale manufacturing andmay be disadvantageous to women(Montes 2016). Though it can be arguedthat this negative impact can be offset bythe integration of women workers in globalvalue chains (GVCs),so far insufficientresearch exists to support that assertion.International businesses that dominatethese GVCs may require domestic regula-tion to facilitate women's empowerment.This type of enabling regulation is specifi-cally precluded or severely restricted byrules of investment and intellectual proper-ty rights under the WTO-plus even stricterprovisions and investor rights included inmega-regional agreements.

Ultimately, for trade to empowerwomen and men equitably, SMART tradepolicies are important. Trade should be: • Strategic: linked to national develop-ment plans and comprehensively integratedwith investment strategies; considering andinvolving local enterprises (MSMEs) andfood security/sovereigntyneeds; includingappropriate sequencing of trade reformmeasures according to a long-term focus;• Multifunctional: supporting the inter-linkage of the different areas of the econo-my; promoting rural development; linkedto poverty eradication, gender equality pol-icy and action plans, employment creation,

and food security; ensuring access to waterand other basic services;• Accountable: involving the participa-tion of all stakeholders in the shaping ofnational trade policy and trade reformmeasures;• Responsive to gender equality,women's empowerment and poverty eradi-cation concerns and priorities: coherentwith national gender equality and women'sempowerment and poverty eradicationframeworks; supporting the promotion ofgender equality interventions (such asfemale extension training, education andskill upgrading for women workers); andenhancing non-gender equality interven-tions (feeder roads, infrastructure for com-munity, etc.) critical for the lives and liveli-hoods of women, men, boys and girls;• Transparent: government expendi-tures on ports and infrastructure to facili-tate trade, aid for trade programmes andprojects must be transparent in design andimplementation.

* Mariama Williams is Senior ProgrammeOfficer, South Centre; Email:[email protected] and ManuelMontes is Senior Advisor, Financing forDevelopment, South Centre; Email:[email protected]

“Policy-makers, including

trade policy decision-makers,

must seek to 'design effective,

measurable interventions to

advance women economically'

taking into account the differ-

ential status and starting

point and access points of

women, relative to men in the

society. Thus 'well-designed

interventions are required to

facilitate women's and men's

economic mobility across sec-

tors and occupations, and to

widen their options.”


COVER

Governments at the 14th session ofthe United Nations Conference onTrade and Development (UNC-

TAD 14) must rise up to the fundamentalchallenge of equitable development in andfor Africa within the global order. Thisintergovernmental forum, to be held inNairobi, Kenya in July 2016, must clearlycall forglobal economic institutions tobol-sterinitiatives by Africa's peoples and theirgovernments towards Africa's structuraleconomic transformation.

These are challenging times in theglobal political economy. The ramificationsof the 2008 global financial and economiccrisis, the worst in the post-war period, stillhaunt the world.Economic performanceremains sluggish in all regions,furtherreducing opportunities for addressing thematerial needs of the vast and growingmajorities of the poor andvulnerable.Thephenomenal levels ofinequality among and within nations, linkedto the very types of economic activity that

led to the crisis, have grown even sharper inits aftermath and throughthe inequitablemeasures adopted by many governments inresponse to the crisis. Added to this is cli-mate change, arising from global systems ofproduction and patterns of consumption,which threatens the very survival of human-ity.Here too, it is poor and vulnerable soci-eties - least responsible for climate changeand least able to cope - thatare suffering theworst effects of climate change.

These global challenges evidence the

Reclaim UNCTAD to Uphold Africa'sStructural Economic Transformation

An African Civil Society Call to Governments at UNCTAD 14


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dynamics at the very core of the interna-tional economic system, and of the globalorder and policy regimes built thereupon.They also highlight the fundamental con-straints to equitable economic develop-ment across the world. In Africa, they haveexposed the limited nature and shaky foun-dations of recent economic progress -bas-edlargely on rising prices of global demandfor primary commodity export - and therelated “Africa Rising” optimism.

Three decades of neo-liberal policieshave served to reinforce the structures thatAfrica's economies inherited from colonial-ism: dependence on the export of (a narrowbasket of hardly processed) primary com-modities, with little or no domestic manu-facturing industrial capacity, and the stag-nation of the rural economy. Africaneconomies thereby remain vulnerable toexternal shocks while internally, unremit-ting rural collapse continues to drive levelsof urbanisation unrelated to the expansionof economic opportunity and/or invest-ment in social and economic infrastructure.

For the majorities of the people, espe-cially the marginalised groups, this hasmeant joblessness, precarious and degradedlivelihoods, and diminished opportunitiesfor self-fulfilment. At the same time fabu-lous wealth continues to concentrate in thehands of narrow circles of national elitesand global corporate forces who togetherdominate political processes and exercisecontrol over economic resources. Theseextremes of inequality have exacerbatedpre-existing inequities and inequalities,including along the lines of class, gender,race, age, ethnic formations and other sta-tus; played havoc with bonds of social soli-darity within and across national bound-

aries; and have driven conflict-laden ten-sions to the fore of societal interactions.

In the face of these, and in response togrowing concerns among their peoples,African governments have, with a greatersense of urgency, spearheaded collectiveinitiatives aimed at the structural economictransformation of their countries and theircontinent: towardsimproved investment inagriculture and the rural economy; moredomestic processing of the export com-modities; rebuilding domestic manufac-ture, developing their industrial and servic-es sectors; and enhancing overall domesticproductive capabilities. These engines ofstructural economic transformation arerequired to create decent jobs, increaseincomes and other means of livelihood,improve living conditions,recognize,reduce and redistribute the burden ofunpaid care work shouldered by women,and overcome poverty in Africa.

African governments have set long-term visions to reinforce the imperatives ofstructural transformation: the AfricanUnion's Agenda 2063, and sectoral andcross-cutting continent-wide frameworks:the Comprehensive African AgriculturalDevelopment Programme (CAADP);theAfrican Mining Vision (AMV); the deci-sion to fast-track the establishment ofContinental Free Trade Area (CFTA); andthe Report of the High Level Panel on IllicitFinancial Flows from Africa (adopted byAfrican Heads of State).

These initiatives and policy frame-works can be strengthened, their internalcoherence and alignment with each otherimproved. Above all, the external condi-tions for their realisation can be greatlyenhanced by ensuring that commitmentsundertaken by African governments ininternational agreements are coherent withthe imperatives of these measures, and thatAfrican governments retain the policy spacenecessary for their realisation.

Why UNCTAD Matters for Africa's

Structural Economic

TransformationUNCTAD provides a critical institu-

tional framework and a unique forum fortaking up the challenges of equitable devel-opment, thanks to its make-up and orienta-tion, its rich history of policy interventionson behalf of African and other developingcountries, and the abiding relevance of theissues for which it was founded.

The organisation's foundational vision

is as critical today as 50 years ago, when itwas established as a platform for thinkingand action on broad issues of trade anddevelopment explicitly formulated aroundthe challenges and perspectives of the vul-nerable and marginalised majority ofnations within the international system.

The specific developmental challengeswhich UNCTAD sought to address are stillhere with us, and in the case of Africa havebecome more acute. These are the chal-lenges posed by the structural imbalances ofthe global order characterised at one poleby aconcentration of highly industrialisedeconomies, and at the other pole, by a massof primary commodity export dependenteconomies feeding the needs of the indus-trial economies. Thisstructureproducesimmense prosperity for some, while gener-ating poverty and constraining the econom-ic well-being for vast majorities in the devel-oping world.

Especially valid for Africa is the agendawhich has formed UNCTAD's work:to pro-mote industrialisation for countries emerg-ing from colonialism, and thus to addressthe primary commodity export dependenteconomic structures; to counter-balancethe so-called free-play of economic forcesa n d t h e i r e f f e c t s o n t h e d e v e l o p i n g

“UNCTAD provides a critical

institutional framework and a

unique forum for taking up the

challenges of equitable devel-

opment, thanks to its make-up

and orientation, its rich histo-

ry of policy interventions on

behalf of African and other

developing countries, and the

abiding relevance of the issues

for which it was founded.”


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economies; and to ensure different treat-ment and obligations for structurally differ-ent types of economies.

Above all, the values, understandings,principles, perspectives and outcomes accu-mulated through 50 years of UNCTAD ini-tiatives form the critical point of departureupon which to build UNCTAD's work forthe coming period - to enable the organisa-tion to support African and other develop-ing countries to meet the challenges oftoday.

Paradoxically, however, the advancedindustrial countries seek the exact oppositeagenda for UNCTAD's future.As is clearfrom the positions they have taken in thenegotiations towards UNCTAD 14- which-will determine UNCTAD's work mandatefor the next four years -these countries con-tinue with their project tocurtailUNCTAD's ability to provide independentand critical policy perspectives. If they suc-ceed, UNCTAD will be undermined in itsrole of providing the much-needed correc-tive and balance to the chorus of positionsthat usually emanate from dominant play-ers like the World Bank, IMF, the WTO,the OECD, and the like.

Instead, UNCTAD will end up as apale reflection of these dominant frame-

works and policies, with its task reducedessentially to supporting poorer countriesof Africa and other parts of the world toimplement and live within this dominantparadigm as best as they can.UNCTAD'sfoundational mission and role will be finallysilenced at the very time when it is mostneeded in global affairs.

African countries, whose peoples andeconomies have suffered the worst resultsof this dominant dogma and its policy pre-scriptions, cannot remain indifferent tosuch a possible outcome of the contestationover UNCTAD's work programme andposition in global economic governance.

At UNCTAD 14 -taking place onAfrican soil - African and other developingcountries must ensure, and developedcountries must support, the adoption of awork mandate that:

• Provides UNCTAD with the necessary space and means to articulate the policy requirements of Africa's structural economic transformation and work in support of their realisation;

• Reflects the elements of the changing global trade and development agenda as it affects the positions and fortunes

of African countries in meeting the challenges of this landscape; and

• Addressesthe specific constraints that African countries face in meeting their development challenges.

UNCTAD must support African coun-tries to:

• Address the negative effects of the imbalances of the international trade regime, including the WTO agreements, Economic Partnership Agreements, bilateral and international investment agreements,and protecting the space for policy initiatives against further encroachment.

• Adopt financial, fiscal, and other relevant policies that stop the nettransfer of capital, illicit financial flows

and other leakages of economic resources from Africa; and enable African countries to retain the investible resources generated in their economies for domestic investment and economic development.

• Adopt policies to access technology (through adoption, diffusion, and technology transfer) to support the development of productive capacities and domestic enterprise, and to meet the needs of sustainable development.

• Adopt gender-sensitive trade and development policies that promote equitable and rights-based development. UNCTAD's ongoing work in this regard must continue and be enhanced.

It is important above all for Africancountries to reimagine UNCTAD beyondtheir narrow expectations of technical assis-tance and capacity building, and to reclaimthe role of UNCTAD to shape global policyframeworks that uphold developmentalimperatives.

* This call was prepared by the followingorganizations: Third World Network-Africa,Tax Justice Network-Africa, Regions Refocus,Southern and Eastern Africa TradeInformation and Negotiations Institute (SEA-TINI), African Women's Development andCommunication Network (FEMNET),Economic Justice Network of the Fellowship ofChristian Councils in Southern Africa (FOC-CISA), and African CSOs Coalition on theAfrican Development Bank.

Kenyatta Conference Centre - venue of UNCTAD 14

AFRICAN AGENDA VOL.19 NO.3

Letter from Global Civil Society on UNCTAD's Role

and Mandate towards UNCTAD 14, July 2016

July, 2016

Dear UNCTAD Member States,

We are writing you out of concern regarding the current nego-

tiations towards the outcome document of the upcoming

conference of the United Nations Conference on Trade and

Development, UNCTAD14, which will be held in July in

Nairobi. We believe that UNCTAD can play a unique role in the

panorama of international economic institutions thanks to its

focus on the interdependence of trade, finance, investment,

macroeconomics, and technology as they affect the growth

and development prospects of developing countries.

However, to live up to its name and promises, its role must be

development-centered, and not tied to the liberalization

goals of other institutions.

Following directly after the adoption of the 2030 Sustainable

Development Agenda, governments made important com-

mitments during the Financing for Development (FfD)

process and the 10th Ministerial meeting of the World Trade

Organization (WTO). We urge you to ensure that the UNCTAD

14mandate is consistent with ensuring that UNCTAD can sup-

port developing countries in using trade for their own devel-

opment purposes. Thus:

- As an institution with a long history of helping developing

countries to use trade for their development, it would be self-

defeatingif UNCTAD were transformed into solely an imple-

mentation mechanism for trade agreements concluded else-

where. While a multilateral system of trade rules is preferable

to a fragmented system, the rules must be fair and balanced,

taking into account the various levels of development across

the UN membership, rather than focused on trade liberaliza-

tion or simply increasing trade flows. UNCTAD must play an

active role in assisting developing countries to advocate for a

fair multilateral trading system (Paras 8, 13), Special and

Differential Treatment (SDT) for all developing countries

(Paras 5 bis, 25, and 40 (bb)), addressing the imbalances in the

current trade regime (40 (bb primus)), particularly in agricul-

ture (Para 40 (c)) and cotton (Para 60 (d) bis). It is not 'new

approaches' (Paras 8 and 14) which are needed but the fulfill-

ment of the development mandateof the Doha Development

Agenda (Paras 8, 9, and 25). The phrase “new approaches” will

be seen as importing WTO debates about the “Singapore

issues” into the UN system, and has no place in the outcome

document.

- Trade and investment agreements do not support develop-

ment without the right policy environment (Paras 12 and 48),

which necessitates policy space (Para 14 bis), an effective and

developmental state able to sustain its own resource base

responsible for safeguarding people's human rights (Para 71),

and a more coherent, inclusive and representative global

architecture for sustainable development. Also required is

moreresponsive, inclusive, participatory and representative

international decision-making through effective, accountable

and inclusive international institutions, with broader and

stronger participation by developing countries (Para 88.)

- Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) and SDT

are long-standing multilaterally-negotiated principles that

recognize that developed and developing countries cannot

be treated in the same manner because of their differing

development and economic circumstances. Thus they have

different levels of responsibility with respect to environmental

degradation, climate change and sustainable development.

Failing to take this into account would be self-defeating, as

the aspiration to promote universal advances in development

and trade would be undermined.

- The integrated approach of UNCTAD to the evolution and

management of globalization and on the interdependence of

trade, finance, investment and technology as they affect the

growth and development prospects of developing countries

is absolutely critical and must be continued and strengthened

(Para 40 (b)); just as the linkages between international trade,

financial and macroeconomic issues, with particular emphasis

on issues related to crisis management is a critical role of UNC-

TAD (Paras 40 (t) and 40 (aa)). The United Nations would be

failing its responsibility to the many countries that need this

service if it does not take a more robust role in this regard.

- Likewise, UNCTAD must continue and strengthen its man-

date to ensure that the trading system enhances the integra-

tion of developing countries including Least Developed

Countries (LDCs) first on a regional level, the structural trans-

formation of African economies (Para 61), gender equality and

women's rights (Para 60 (y)) in relation to the structural and

global issues in trade and finance; and the promotion of sus-

tainable development,centered in the promotion of a higher

self-sufficiency in basic food staples, and by ensuring decent

work, and peasant, Indigenous, and worker's rights. These

goals necessitate that UNCTAD undertake a review of pro-

posed and existing trade agreements with a view to promot-

ing sustainable industrialization and equitabletransitions to a

low-carbon economy, reversing the reductions of labor's

share of income, supporting the implementation of agree-

ments regarding LDCs, and strengthening the negotiating

capacity of developing countries in trade negotiations.

- In addition to work on the multilateral trading system,

UNCTAD's trade work must continue and strengthen its man-

date to support developing countries in their processes

towards forms of regional integration (Para 26) that primarily

work for the people most affected by development chal-

lenges, as well as helping them assess the increasingly com-

plex (positive or negative) implications of pluri-lateral and

mega-regional trade agreements for their own development

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16

AFRICAN AGENDA VOL.19 NO.3

(Para 40 (n)) as well as advancing their interests within those

negotiations.

- Given UNCTAD's long history encouraging developing coun-

tries to sign International Investment Agreements (IIAs) and

the negative impacts developing countries have experienced,

particularly due to the Investor to State Dispute Settlement

(ISDS) mechanisms, UNCTAD's mandate should be intensely

invested in helping developing countries craft investment poli-

cies that will contribute to development (Paras 60 (p) and 60

(w)), rather than just 'balance the interests' of investors and

development (Para 21); as well as to unwind and reform these

agreements (Paras 26 and 60 (ii)). UNCTAD's mandate to sup-

port not the attraction of investment as a goal in itself (60 (w))

but rather its contribution to development (Para 55, 60 (w))

must be strengthened. The establishment of an

Intergovernmental Expert Group (IGEG) on Trade and

Investment Rules and Policy Reform (Para 40 v) would be help-

ful in this regard. This IGEG should develop a mechanism to

engage civil society organizations to develop a framework for

IIAs that would establish investors' legal responsibility and ade-

quate procedures for accountability, including mandatory due

diligence assessments across supply chains, as well as devel-

oping policy options to increase tax transparency in the oper-

ations of multinational enterprises.

- The above work necessitates research and policy analysis

including positive and negativeimpacts of trade rules on devel-

opment (Para 40 (n)) and on the achievement of the SDGs in

the Trade and Development Report (40 (d)) and independent-

ly of the WTO, which does not share the developmental mis-

sion of UNCTAD (Para 40 (k)).

- UNCTAD should be involved in monitoring the role of the pri-

vate sector, particularly foreign investors and their impacts

(positive or negative) on mobilization of domestic resources

and debt sustainability, development (Paras 40 (aa), 54, and 60

(dd)) human rights, and the SDGs (Para 40 (k)). Supporting

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) should also be conditional

upon such requirements rather than addressed as ends in

themselves (Para 46 and 60 (x)).

- The document must continue and strengthen UNCTAD's

mandate on curbing tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance

including in commodities markets (Para 27) and through

investment policies (Para 55 (bis)). More broadly, the issue of

changing international tax rules and closing loopholes which

facilitate and enable international tax evasion and aggressive

avoidance cannot just be 'dealt with' by the OECD, which

excludes the vast majority of developing countries. It must be

at the centre of a multilateral intergovernmental process under

the auspices of the United Nations. As part of its contribution

to curbing tax dodging internationally, UNCTAD must play a

vital role in the development of a normative definition of 'illic-

it financial flows' (Para 40); in developing guidelines and build-

ing global consensus towards public country by country

reporting; in providing policy support and and capacity build-

ing to enhance the involvement of developing countries in

addressing Base Erosion and Profit Shifting to safeguard their

taxing rights. This would go a long way towards countries

being able to sustain their own development needs (Paras 22

and 27) as would the establishment of an IGEG on global tax

issues (Para 40 (z)).

- UNCTAD's work on debt workout mechanisms and responsi-

ble lending and borrowing (Paras 15, 20, 32, 33, 40 (e), 40 (e)

bis, 40 (f ), 53, and 107 (e)) has been uniquely useful and should

be strengthened, including by supporting further work on

these issues at the UN General Assembly level. UNCTAD should

also follow up on its conceptual work, support the implemen-

tation of responsible lending and borrowing practices in

Member States and monitor progress. Moreover, UNCTAD

should develop an alternative and development-oriented

methodology on debt sustainability analysis and support

national vulture funds legislation in line with the Addis Ababa

Action Agenda (AAAA). It is important to restate the shared

responsibility of creditors and debtors in achieving debt sus-

tainability.

- Technology transfer is essential to the enabling of sustainable

development in developing countries and UNCTAD should

continue to take a lead role in supporting these efforts by

developing countries (Paras 48, 60 (l), 82 (dd)) rather than in

enforcing intellectual property rules that benefit protectionist

patent- and copyright-holders in developed countries (Para 60

(q)).

- UNCTAD's important role in Financing for Development (FfD)

should be affirmed and expanded, including through the cre-

ation of an IGEG on Financing Development (Para 40 (w)), as

well as monitoring the implementation of commitments on

ODA (Paras 40 (y), 46, 47, 52, and 107 (r)). ODA is a long-stand-

ing but essentiallyunfulfilled commitment by the developed

countries; it is central to North-South cooperation; and it must

be differentiated from, and not substituted by South-South

cooperation and other sources of international public finance.

- Finally, there is a need to scale up the international financial

and human resource support of member governments

towards UNCTAD and its overall mandate. As the organization

becomes more dependent on project-based funding from

developed countries, priorities shift in the direction of donor

states rather than the agreed-upon mandate, and this tenden-

cy must be curbed by robust renewed general support funding

from the member states.

We believe that the further UNCTAD moves toward seeing

developing countries mainly as engines to increase trade --

and thus deviating from its mission to support the use of trade

for development, the more it risks redundancy and irrelevancy.

As civil society organizations deeply committed to human

rights and social justice, the achievement of the SDGs and sus-

tainable development for all, we urge you to adopt the above

positions and ensure that UNCTAD continues and strengthens

its role in trade, finance, investment, macroeconomics, and

technology as they affect the growth and development

prospects of all developing countries.

Sincerely,

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17


The broad mandate of the UnitedNations Conference on Trade andDevelopment (UNCTAD) cover-

ing trade, development and all inter-relatedissues must not be restricted or downgrad-ed but instead be revitalised at the upcom-ing UNCTAD-14 conference, developingcountries have urged.

The views of the developing countriescame during the thirtieth special session ofthe Trade and Development Board (TDB)on 13 June, just ahead of the UNCTAD-14meet in Nairobi, Kenya to be held from 17-22 July.

The developing countries also voicedconcern over the slow pace of negotiationson the draft outcome document for UNC-TAD-14, arguing that much more remainsto be done, especially on issues of impor-tance to the developing countries.

Jamaica, on behalf of the G77 andChina, said that the group takes note of theprogress made in certain areas as reflectedin the text as has been presented for transla-tion and transmission.

"We regard this text as a living docu-ment on which focused work must nowintensify. We recognise that with only 26

working days left before the start of UNC-TAD-14, we have a difficult path ahead ofus in the negotiations, if we are to ensurethat we have a document that is worthy ofconsideration by our ministers."

Speaking on the process, Jamaica saidthat the G77 and China stands ready toengage fully in an intensified process ofnegotiations.

"In this regard, we suggest that theaccelerated programme of work under yourdirection (President of the TDB), be soorganised as to enable focussed and sus-tained attention to each sub-theme in turn."

The South has stressed the importance of UNCTAD as a focal point in the UN system for trade

and development and related issues as well as a platform for addressing developing countries'

concerns writes *Kanaga Raja.

South against restricting or downgrading UNCTAD'S mandate

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UNCTAD headquarters


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The G77 and China said that it willseek to deepen engagement with othergroup coordinators at the level of ambassa-dors complemented by experts as appropri-ate to seek to bridge gaps on a number ofissues.

"We do so in the hope that this willfacilitate progress in the ongoing negotiat-ing and drafting track," it said.

The African Group noted that progresshas been made towards agreement on thedraft outcome document.

It was however concerned that muchmore remains to be done especially onissues that are of significant importance tothe mandate and work of UNCTAD andthose of relevance to the developing coun-tries.

It was particularly concerned by someof the expressed views that are not in thebest interests of UNCTAD as an organisa-tion and for developing countries in general.

NegotiationsWhile the developing countries have

been constructive in the negotiations, thereactions from the other side of the tablehave been discouraging as they are eitheraimed at re-negotiating agreed principles orto draw red lines around issues that are ofparticular importance to the developingcountries, said the African Group.

"As the issues are known by all of us,however, we will not be amenable to down-grading agreed issues or re-negotiate agreedprinciples, nor will we be willing to limit ordowngrade the mandate and work of UNC-TAD in the outcome of the fourteenth min-isterial meeting."

The African Group also expressed con-cern over the attempts to shift the obliga-tions of the international community tonational governments alone or to othermultilateral agencies.

The unresolved issues only need polit-ical will from all of us, said the AfricanGroup, expressing hope that "we will con-tinue to resolve most if not all of thembefore we go to Nairobi."

Chile, on behalf of the Latin Americanand Caribbean group of countries (GRU-LAC), aligning itself with the G77 andChina statement, said that during theprocess in recent months, the group hasactively participated in the negotiations onUNCTAD's mandate for the forthcomingfour years.

It believes in the importance of UNC-TAD as the focal point within the UN sys-

tem for trade and development, and relatedsubjects in the areas of finance, technology,investment, and sustainable development.

"Because of this, we call for an intensifi-cation of the negotiating process," it said,adding that for the group, a mandate forUNCTAD which is revitalised is essentialbecause it is only in this way that it will bebeneficial and useful for all members, inparticular for developing countries.

It also believed that UNCTAD musthave an active role in contributing to theachievement and success of the 2030Agenda for Sustainable Development andits mandate must go beyond the simplemandates and declarations that we had pre-viously.

NecessitiesGRULAC underlined that it should

contain substantial elements including thedifficulties and necessities which face coun-tries in special situations such as the LeastDeveloped Countries (LDCs), the Land-Locked Developing Countries (LLDCs),Small Island Developing States (SIDS), andthe Small and Vulnerable Economies(SVEs).

Particular attention should also be paidto the specific challenges of middle-incomecountries.

Pakistan, on behalf of the Asia-PacificGroup, aligning itself with the statement ofthe G77 and China, said that UNCTAD isthe focal point in the UN system for trade,development and inter-related issues offinance, technology and investment.

Its platform and services remain criticalfor developing countries, said Pakistan,adding that UNCTAD-14 "offers us anopportunity to reiterate and strengthen themandate of UNCTAD."

The landmark outcome documentagreed last year by the international com-munity has lent a sense of urgency to revi-talise UNCTAD in all its three pillars tobetter serve the global development agen-da.

The Asia-Pacific Group was concernedover the slow pace of the negotiations. Itbelieved that every effort should now bemade to clear the text and secure agreementon all outstanding issues.

"We specially note with concern thatnumerous elements important to develop-ing countries unfortunately are beingignored by other groups."

According to Pakistan, the success ofthe conference hinges on its ability to deliv-

er on issues of concern to developing coun-tries. "Simply discarding issues of concernto developing countries would not beacceptable."

The notion of comparative advantageshould not be allowed to limit the role ofUNCTAD to a few areas and restrict itsbroad mandate covering trade, develop-ment and all inter-related issues.

Pakistan emphasised that this mandatehas been reaffirmed in recent UN outcomesincluding the Addis Ababa Action Agenda,which also called for the strengthening ofthe organisation.

UNCTAD, both as an organisationand intergovernmental machinery, shouldbe enabled to treat all inter-related trade,investment and development issues in acomprehensive manner.

"We believe that emphasis should begiven to the most important pillar ofUNCTAD's work, which is consensus-building. Regrettably, efforts are beingmade to downgrade [the] consensus-build-ing pillar of UNCTAD."

This would be a great disservice, notonly to developing countries but to devel-oped countries as well, Pakistan stressed.

It noted that the global economyremains fragile. Persistently high levels ofunemployment, stagnant economic growthand unprecedented income inequalities areleading to an unravelling of consensus with-in and amongst countries on internationaleconomic and trade regimes.

In such a situation, said Pakistan, it isincomprehensible as to why this organisa-tion's mandate to discuss trade and eco-nomic matters in an integrated manner issought to be eroded.

Developing countries attach greatimportance to issues such as technologytransfer, debt management, tax evasion andtax avoidance, as well as implementation ofthe SDGs.

Being the focal point for trade, devel-opment and inter-related issues, it is onlynatural for UNCTAD to treat these mattersin all its three pillars.

Pakistan expressed concern that settledprinciples of trade and development arebeing questioned.

"Developing countries attach greatimportance to principles such as the right todevelopment, special and differential treat-ment and policy space. These principlesmust clearly be reflected in the final docu-ment," Pakistan underlined.


COVER

Bangladesh, on behalf of the LDCs,aligned with the statement of the G77 andChina. It said that for the LDCs, it is impor-tant that the outcome document emphasis-es the need for policy space and special anddifferential treatment in any multilateralagreement given the different levels ofdevelopment.

This has been recognised for a longtime, both in UNCTAD and other UN fora,as well as the World Trade Organisation(WTO).

It was of the strong view that UNC-TAD should continue to work within itsmandate, and any text that limits its man-date cannot be accepted.

It also underlined the importance ofthe cotton sector for economic growth inmany of the LDCs. It wants to see specificreference to cotton and action by UNC-TAD in this regard.

Bangladesh also strongly felt that theconsensus-building pillar needs to be reacti-vated in order to revitalise UNCTAD.

The intergovernmental machineryneeds to focus on specific global challengeswhere global action is required. Forinstance, tax evasion and avoidance is aglobal challenge and global action isrequired to address this issue.

ForumUNCTAD would be the appropriate

forum to initiate discussion on this veryimportant global issue, with a view toachieving consensus building regulation, itsaid.

Bangladesh also called for faithfulimplementation of Article 66.2 of theTRIPS Agreement.

Paraguay, on behalf of the LandLocked Developing Countries (LLDCs),concurred that the negotiating processneeds to be speeded up.

The 2030 Sustainable DevelopmentAgenda recognises trade as an engine forinclusive growth and poverty reduction.

The LLDCs, however, continue to bemarginalised in terms of trade flows andinvestment, and this is because of the dis-tance from ports, and transit and transportsystems that are not well developed leadingto high costs for trade and investment.

It called for the paragraphs on theLLDCs in terms of, amongst others, trans-port, transit, infrastructure, productivecapacities, technology, particularly ICT, bedeveloped and that resources be main-tained.

Barbados, on behalf of the Small IslandDeveloping States (SIDS), associating itselfwith the G77 and China statement, notedthat a number of paragraphs that remainoutstanding are of critical importance to theSIDS.

"In fact, there is still much work left todo," it said.

It said that there is need to urgentlyintensify the collective efforts during theinterim period between now and Nairobi.

This intensification of work must becoupled with the requisite exercise of goodfaith in negotiations and political will towork towards an UNCTAD which will beempowered to deliver on its mandate as thefocal point in the UN system on trade anddevelopment and the inter-related issues offinance, technology, investment and sus-tainable development.

According to Barbados, it is vital thatthe outcome document reflect the princi-ples which are sacrosanct to the sustainabledevelopment discourse on which we havereiterated within the respective context inthe international outcomes which we haveall agreed, which have made the year 2015 atruly historic year for the global develop-ment agenda.

Parameters"Amidst the divergences between

members, we think that there are somebasic parameters on which we all can agree.Chief among these is that our role is to draftfor our ministers a document which is notonly worthy of ministerial decree but onewhich will define UNCTAD's mandate forthe next quadrennium and which is aimedat meaningfully addressing the needs of thisorganisation's main beneficiaries, develop-ing countries," it said.

Egypt, on behalf of the Arab Group,associating itself with the G77 and Chinastatement, said that the Nairobi outcomedocument is an essential point to translatethe international vision agreed upon in var-ious documents issued last year, beginningwith the Sendai framework on risk reduc-tion to the 2030 Agenda into clear imple-mentation mechanisms.

The Arab Group believes that theNairobi document must be a step forwardin the field of implementation and not onlya repetition of what has been previouslyagreed upon in other frameworks.

The Nairobi document must reflectthe central role of UNCTAD not only as anorganisation specialised in trade and devel-

opment and related issues such as financeand investment in the UN system but alsothe cumulative experience of UNCTAD indealing with various issues related to itsmandate.

The Arab Group said that it is alsoessential for the document to include a realevaluation of challenges and opportunitiesof the international economy especiallydeveloping countries.

In this context, issues such as tax eva-sion, debt management, criteria to measurefinance flows including ODA, are basic ele-ments of the document, considering itsdirect link to efforts to achieve develop-ment especially in developing countries.

China expressed support for the G77and China and Asia-Pacific group state-ments. Due to its limited resources, thework of UNCTAD should focus on priori-ties such as major global issues related totrade and development so as to maximisethe utility of its limited resources, it said.

It said development requires afavourable international environment ofwhich policy space is an indispensable andkey part. Policy space has become an inter-nationally accepted concept which has beenstated in the Addis Ababa Action Agendaand in the SDG outcome document.

The European Union noted that dur-ing the last few weeks there had beenintense, almost daily meetings, and somegood progress has been made.

However, at the same time, the EU saidit recognised that there is still a lot ofground to cover in too short a time-frame.

In previous meetings, the EU and itsmember states gave extensive statementson what and how in their view the way for-ward should look like. The EU asked for themeeting to refer to those statements.

The negotiations continue to be con-ducted in an excellent spirit and with excel-lent compromise and commitment - it hasbeen constructive - "but we are still very farbehind. We will need to speed up theprocess. We will need to show flexibility,and we shall have to have greater directengagement among delegations."

He urged all member states to contin-ue to work constructively and to acceleratethe process so that "we can get to Nairobiwith a clean text."

*Kanaga Raja is the editor of the South-NorthDevelopment Monitor (SUNS) is Geneva,Switzerland. The article is reproduced fromthe SUNS #8262


DEVELOPMENT

“Free trade” seems to be in deep trouble inthe United States, with serious implicationsfor the rest of the world.

Opposition to free trade or trade agree-ments emerged as a big theme among theleading American presidential candidates.

Donald Trump attacked cheap importsespecially from China and threatened toraise tariffs. Hillary Clinton criticised theTrans-Pacific Partnership Agreement(TPPA) which she once championed, and

Bernie Sanders' opposition to free tradeagreements (FTAs) helped him win inmany states before the New York primary.

That trade became such a hot topic inthe campaigns reflects a strong anti-freetrade sentiment on the ground.

Almost six million jobs were lost in theUS manufacturing sector from 1999 to2011.

Wages have remained stagnant whilethe incomes of the top one per cent of

Americans have shot up.Rightly or wrongly, many Americans

blame these problems on US trade policyand FTAs.

The downside of trade agreementshave been highlighted by economists likeJoseph Stiglitz and by unions and NGOs.But the benefits of “free trade” have beentouted by almost all mainstream econo-mists and journalists.

Recently, however, the establishment

As free trade reaches a crossroads in the US, developing countries have to rethink their own

trade realities for their own development interests, contends *Martin Khor.

"Free trade" in trouble in the United States

Leaders of the TPP


DEVELOPMENT

media have published many articles on thecollapse of popular support for free trade inthe US:

Lawrence Summers, former Treasurysecretary, noted that “a revolt against globalintegration is under way in the West”. Themain reason is a sense “that it is a projectcarried out by elites for elites with little con-sideration for the interests of ordinary peo-ple”.

The Economist, with a cover sub-titled“America turns against free trade”, lament-ed how mainstream politicians are pouringfuel on the anti-free trade fire. While main-taining that free trade still deserves full sup-port, it cites studies showing that the lossesfrom free trade are more concentrated andlonger-lasting than had been assumed.

Financial Times columnist PhillipSteven's article “US politics is closing thedoor on free trade” quotes Washingtonobservers saying that there is no chance ofthe next president or Congress, of whatevercolour, backing the TPPA. The backlashagainst free trade is deep as the middleclasses have seen scant evidence of the gainsonce promised for past trade deals.

In a blog on the Wall Street Journal,Greg Ip's article The Case for Free Trade is

Weaker Than You Think concludes that ifworkers lose their jobs to imports and cen-tral banks can't bolster domestic spendingenough to re-employ them, a country maybe worse off and keeping imports out canmake it better off.

Orthodox economists argue that freetrade is beneficial because consumers enjoy

cheaper goods. They recognise that compa-nies that can't compete with imports closeand workers get retrenched. But theyassume that there will be new businessesgenerated by exports and the retrenchedworkers will shift there, so that overall therewill be higher productivity and no net jobloss.

However, new research, some of whichis cited by the articles above, shows that thispositive adjustment can take longer thananticipated or may not take place at all.

Thus, trade liberalisation can cause netlosses under certain conditions. The gainsfrom having cheaper goods and moreexports could be more than offset by loss oflocal businesses, job retrenchments andstagnant wages.

There are serious implications of thisshift against free trade in the US.

The TPPA may be threatened asCongress approval is required and this isnow less likely to happen during Obama'sterm.

Under a new president and Congress, itis not clear there will be enough support.

If the US does not ratify the TPPA, thewhole deal may be off as the other countriesdo not see the point of joining without the US.

“Financial Times columnist

Phillip Steven's article “US poli-

tics is closing the door on free

trade” quotes Washington

observers saying that there is

no chance of the next presi-

dent or Congress, of whatever

colour, backing the TPPA. The

backlash against free trade is

deep as the middle classes

have seen scant evidence of

the gains once promised for

past trade deals.”

Trump - Republican presidential hopeful


DEVELOPMENT

US scepticism on the benefits of freetrade has also now affected the multilateralarena. At the World Trade Organization,the US is now refusing attempts to com-plete the Doha Round.

More US protectionism is now likely.Trump has threatened to slap high tariffs onChinese goods. Even if this crude method isnot used, the US can increasingly use lessdirect methods such as anti-dumpingactions. Affected countries will then retali-

ate, resulting in a spiral.This turn of events is ironic.For decades, the West has put high

pressure on developing countries, even thepoorest among them, to liberalise theirtrade.

A few countries, mainly Asian, stagedtheir liberalisation carefully and benefitedfrom industrialised exports which could payfor their increased imports.

However, countries with a weak capac-ity, especially in Africa, saw the collapse oftheir industries and farms as cheap importsreplaced local products.

Many development-oriented econo-mists and groups were right to cautionpoorer countries against sudden import lib-eralisation and pointed to the fallacy of thetheory that free trade is always good, but thedamage was already done.

Ironically, it is now the US establish-ment that is facing people's opposition tothe free trade logic.

It should be noted that the developedcountries have not really practised freetrade. Their high-cost agriculture sector iskept afloat by extremely high subsidies,which enable them to keep out imports and,worse, to sell their subsidised farm products

to the rest of the world at artificially lowprices.

Eliminating these subsidies or reducingthem sharply was the top priority at theWTO's Doha Agenda. But this is being jet-tisoned by the insistence of developedcountries that the Doha Round is dead.

In the bilateral and plurilateral FTAslike the TPPA, the US and Europe have alsokept the agriculture subsidy issue off thetable.

Thus, the developed countries suc-ceeded in maintaining trade rules that allowthem to continue their protectionist prac-tices.

Finally, if the US itself is having grow-ing doubts about the benefits of “freetrade”, less powerful countries should havea more realistic assessment of trade liberali-sation.

As free trade and trade policy reaches acrossroads in the US and the rest of theWest, developing countries have to rethink

their own trade realities and make their owntrade policies for their own developmentinterests.

* Martin Khor is Executive Director of theSouth Centre.

“It should be noted that the

developed countries have not

really practised free trade.

Their high-cost agriculture sec-

tor is kept afloat by extremely

high subsidies, which enable

them to keep out imports and,

worse, to sell their subsidised

farm products to the rest of

the world at artificially low

prices.”

In the fields


The world's indigenous peoples - esti-mated at over 370 million livingacross 90 countries and accounting

for 15% of the poorest - remain isolated,both politically and geographically.

So, nearly a thousand participants fromAsia, Africa, North America, Europe andLatin America and the Caribbean gatheredtogether to air their grievances before theUnited Nations at a two-week long confer-ence, which concluded May 20.

Their plea for inclusiveness was a reit-eration of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's

appeal to the international community onthe UN's 17 Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) for a more humane and pros-perous world for all - “leaving no onebehind”.

The conference ended with a resound-ing call for greater participation in theUnited Nations and in UN bodies by someof the world's most neglected minoritieswho are increasingly victims of armed con-flicts, corporate greed and rising economicinequalities.

Since the establishment of a UN

Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in2000, and despite a UN Declaration on theRights of Indigenous Peoples adopted bythe General Assembly in 2007, indigenousgroups have expressed great concern overthe growing number of military conflictsaffecting them worldwide.

The most affected are indigenous peo-ple caught in crossfires in current and pastarmed conflicts in Colombia, India,Myanmar, the Philippines, Bangladesh,Guatemala and Peru, according to VictoriaTauli-Corpuz of the Philippines, the UN

Indigenous peoples, many who are victims of armed conflicts, corporate greed and rising eco-

nomic inequalities, want greater participation in the United Nations while also calling to the

international community to address their grievances, writes *Rizwy Raheem.

Indigenous peoples insist onequality of all rights

DEVELOPMENT

UN Secretary-General - Ban Ki-moon


Special Rapporteur on the Rights ofIndigenous Peoples.

The grave consequences includeforced displacement, extra-judicial execu-tions, sexual violence and forced recruit-ment of child soldiers.

“The violations against indigenouspeoples in the context of armed conflictscause trauma and irreparable harm, destroytheir culture and rip apart the social fabricof the affected indigenous communities,”she declared.

Not surprisingly, the theme of the con-ference was: “Indigenous Peoples: Conflict,Peace and Resolution.”

According to the United Nations,extractive industries, including mining oilpalm plantations and the construction ofdams, often take place without the free,prior and informed consent of indigenouspeoples.

During violent conflicts, indigenouspeoples are often among the most vulnera-ble due to situations of poverty, politicalmarginalization and systemic discrimina-tion that many still face.

At the conclusion of the meeting UNSecretary-General Ban Ki- moon admittedthat while much has been achieved toimprove the rights of indigenous peoples,conflicts on their lands and territories, andthe lack of inclusion of their voices in peaceprocesses, remain a challenge.

He called on all Member States and theentire UN system to work together toaddress these and other serious concerns.

Stressing that indigenous peoples arefirmly on the UN agenda, and were fullyengaged in negotiations for the 2030Agenda for Sustainable Development andthe Paris Agreement on climate change, “itis now crucial that they also participate inand contribute to implementation and fol-low-up”.

Ban urged indigenous peoples toremain engaged and actively participate inthe process initiated by the President of theGeneral Assembly to enable their represen-tation in meetings of relevant UN bodies.

Briefing reporters May 19, AlvaroEsteban Pop of Guatemala, Chair of theForum, said that among the most signifi-cant topics discussed during the sessionwere peace and conflict resolution; theissue of children and women in situations ofviolence; and the persecution of leadersinvolved in conflicts over land and naturalresources.

“These are fundamental aspects of any

negotiation and any region in the pursuit ofresolutions and peace therein,” he stressed.

Pop said while dialogue had not beeneasy over the last two weeks, it wasabsolutely necessary to be able to continueworking together.

“Every day we learn more,” he added.He said many indigenous speakers haddescribed the serious situation of theirrespective people, in particular their strug-gle to access land and resources, the vio-lence and abuse suffered by indigenouswomen and girls, and their lack of access tohealth and education.

Indigenous women had made their“voices of protest heard”, he noted. Also,the high rate of suicide among indigenousyouth, which related to colonial injusticesof the past, was simply unacceptable, hedeclared.

“While it was essential to ensure broadpartnership among indigenous peoples,Governments and the United Nations, theOrganization could serve as an indispensa-ble bridge of communication betweenMember States and indigenous peoples,” headded.

Joan Carling, a Forum member fromthe Philippines, said 2017 will mark the 10-year anniversary of the adoption of the UNDeclaration on the Rights of IndigenousPeoples.

“It will be a critical year in terms ofreviewing what has been achieved,” shesaid, adding that discussions at next year'sForum will revolve around how furtherimplementation of the Declaration can be

achieved.She stressed the importance of UN

Funds and Programmes to support legisla-tive action for the Declaration's inclusion innational laws and policies.

Carling also said discussions at thisyear's Forum had made it “very clear” thatmany indigenous peoples are not aware ofthe Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), which therefore indicates a needfor outreach and awareness-raising on theissue.

Another crucial element involvesincorporating specific targets and indica-tors relating to indigenous peoples into theSDGs, although in this sense she noted thelack of data disaggregation as a factorimpeding the measurement of progresstowards meeting any specific targets.

The conference ended with several keyrecommendations to the UN's Economicand Social Council (ECOSOC), includingthe preservation of indigenous languages.

In the absence of such a measure, theForum warned that more than half of theworld's indigenous languages wouldbecome extinct by 2100 and recommendedthat Member States recognize the languagerights of indigenous peoples and developpolicies to promote and protect indigenouslanguages, including by supporting fullimmersion methods.

It further recommended that Statesand the United Nations system providesupport, including funding, for the efforts ofindigenous peoples' institutions to preserveand revitalize their languages, and that theGeneral Assembly proclaim anInternational Year of IndigenousLanguages by 2020.

Additionally, it called upon MemberStates to implement the recommendationsof the international expert working groupmeeting on indigenous youth held in 2013,and urged the consideration of a distinctUnited Nations voluntary fund for indige-nous youth, or the earmarking of existingand future funds for that purpose.

It also urged Member States to take allmeasures necessary for the prevention ofself-harm and suicide among indigenouschildren and young people, recommendingthat States adopt measures to address thespecific problems of police brutality, sys-temic police violence and discriminationagainst indigenous women.

*The article is reproduced from Third WorldNetwork Features.

DEVELOPMENT

“The violations against indige-

nous peoples in the context of

armed conflicts cause trauma

and irreparable harm, destroy

their culture and rip apart the

social fabric of the affected

indigenous communities,”


DEVELOPMENT

Microfinance has been celebratedas a way to get money into thehands of poor people, and most

famously women, so they can jump startsmall businesses. These tiny loans withminimal requirements to borrow havebecome a global phenomenon.

The 2005 United Nations “year ofmicrocredit” was followed in 2006 by aNobel Peace Price to the Grameen Bank inBangladesh. In the decade since, microcred-it has grown from a visionary call forwomen's empowerment to a mainstay ofeconomic development initiatives.Increasingly it has even moved into main-stream commercial banking. There seemsto be a general consensus that for entrepre-neurship, you simply add credit and stir.

It's estimated that there are about 90million active borrowers in microfinanceinstitutions (MFIs) worldwide, and the sec-tor granted US$81.5 billion in loans in2012.

Meanwhile, MFIs have grown intoemerging areas such as mobile banking,insurance and savings, education loans, anddigital financial services. As the suite offinancial services and products has expand-ed, so has the wider development mission.The notion of providing credit to poorwomen has evolved into the bigger idea ofbuilding a robust financial system that canserve poor and low income communities.

Like the microcredit movement that itgrew out of, the push for “financial inclu-sion” challenges the current state of affairs.Currently, using money is by far the mostexpensive for people with the least moneyto spare. There's a need to fundamentallyrethink financial services along more inclu-sive lines.

What could be wrong with expandingfinancial services to include the billions ofpeople currently left out of the traditionalbanking sector?

The global push for financial inclusion could end up with unintended consequences

writes *Caroline Schuster.

Microfinance could wind upbeing the new subprime


DEVELOPMENT

More inclusive and democratic formsof banking surely bring financial services topeople and communities that had beenexcluded from key markets. But academicresearch and policy analysts both soundsome notes of caution. Economists such asCharlotte Wagner have studied the growthof microfinance and found it to be part ofthe same credit glut experienced in the tra-ditional banking sector in the mid-2000s. Itcould be susceptible to the same boom andbust cycles.

VulnerableHas the rapid expansion of credit left

the sector vulnerable to an unstable globalcredit market? Disturbing stories of bor-rower suicides in India linked to over-indebtedness would point in that direction.A volatile market and increasing pressureson debt collection might be some unintend-ed outcomes of a global push for financialinclusion.

My research on the hidden costs ofmicrofinance began with two years of on-the-ground anthropological fieldwork onthe culture of credit in Latin America.Behind the numbers, what was the experi-ence of living on credit for the families,neighbourhoods, and communities

enrolled in these development projects?What I ultimately found was that

women navigated an economic world thatwas awash in credit. In fact, many people in

the financial services industry in Paraguay,from microcredit borrowers all the way upto a credit scoring executive, told me thatwhen it came to credit they were “bicy-cling.” The common saying implied thatthey spun the pedals by paying off one loanwith the next.

Turning the wheels of the “credit bicy-cle” meant constantly seeking out newopportunities to borrow. In practice, thesedebts were from development organisa-tions, consumer credit, local businesses,savings and loan cooperatives, finance com-panies, and informal loans from friends andfamily. And they were directed toward amix of small business ventures, consump-tion, and income smoothing. Microcredit,with its mission of financial inclusion andvery lenient requirements for things likecredit history, income, or collateral require-ments, ultimately supported exactly thissort of “bicycling” credit.

Unintended consequencesThe research suggests the “democrati-

sation of finance” for micro-entrepreneur-ship could go the same way as that of themortgage market, particularly in the UnitedStates: subprime lending.

The social justice impulse to promoteaccess to banking services, especially towomen, is a good one. But it is not that dis-similar to the social justice impulse to pro-mote home ownership for people who hadpreviously been excluded from the mort-gage market. In the bigger picture, this alsomeans the financial sector is increasinglytargeting very vulnerable communities,whether poor women or low-income home-owners, as a source of profit.

The repayment rate on microcreditloans has been very high, up to 98 percent.In Paraguay, this was often because womenfeared losing this crucial lifeline and fallingoff the “credit bicycle.” Most of the borrow-ers I encountered would no more be able todo without debt than many in the devel-oped world would be able to cut up theircredit cards.

Like the mortgage market, though, per-haps one crucial element of financial inclu-sion will be to ask some hard questions ofthe protections needed as loans grow. Weask women borrowers to rely on one anoth-er and on their families to make their loanpayments. They must look inward to theirsocial networks for a safety net. As sub-prime lending reshapes their economic livesand livelihoods, we might also questionhow long those communities might beexpected to shoulder the risks alone.

*Caroline Schuster is a Lecturer at the Schoolof Archaeology and Anthropology, AustralianNational University. The article is reproducedfrom Third World Network Features.

“We ask women borrowers to

rely on one another and on

their families to make their

loan payments. They must look

inward to their social networks

for a safety net. As subprime

lending reshapes their eco-

nomic lives and livelihoods, we

might also question how long

those communities might be

expected to shoulder the risks

alone.”

Women micro-credit group


GENDER

Gender inequality in Africa is one of the key drivers of poverty, yet there is the lack of political

will to make substantive and concrete financial commitments to achieving gender equality. The

money simply must follow the rhetoric, argues *Brenda Muturi.

2015 was an exciting year for globaland African development priorities interms of innovation and re-invention.

Pivotal international summits took placethat focused on defining goals and targetsfor the global sustainable developmentagenda in the post-MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDG) era.

The Third International Conferenceon Financing for Development held inAddis Ababa in July 2015 brought forth

agreements on mechanisms for financingthis agenda in Africa, and beyond. There ismuch to laud not only from these forumsand processes but also the vanguard Africaninitiatives enshrined in visionary AfricanUnion frameworks such as Agenda 2063.Nonetheless, the road ahead is a long onebecause in reality not enough has beendone to better the lot of African women inparticular. One of the key reasons that weare yet to effectively tackle with respect to

gender inequality in Africa, which is one ofthe key drivers of poverty, is the lack ofpolitical will to make substantive and con-crete financial commitments to achievinggender equality.

So, then, comes the question that manyoften think but in the interest of politicalcorrectness hesitate to utter out loud: Whydoes it matter if women don't necessarilyhave all the same opportunities as men?

This is why. We on the African continent

Leaving no African woman behind:Financing gender in the post-MDG era


GENDER

should care because as fatuous as it mayseem to state, women are human beings. Itis reprehensible that whilst women repre-sent approximately 52% of the populationof the African continent they continue toexperience discrimination and are grosslyunderrepresented in economic, politicaland cultural spheres. This is not only a grossbreach of natural justice but is criticallyimpeding and undermining economicgrowth and transformation on the conti-nent particularly in light of the fact thatinvestments in gender equality yield thehighest returns of all development invest-ments (OECD 2010).

CropsIndeed it has been calculated that if

gender gaps in the public, private and socialsectors were closed in countries, an addi-tional $12 trillion could be added to globalGDP by 2025. Simply put, without genderequality, women's empowerment and therealization of women's human rights, sus-tained economic growth and developmentwill remain out of reach for African nations.Yet despite this, women continue to beexploited and their contributions to societyand the economy as a whole uncounted,unrecognised and under remunerated.

The African continent has proved itselftime and again to be at the forefront ofintroducing progressive policies and frame-works on key issues and gender equality isno exception. These African instruments tovarying degrees make a deliberate effort toaddress the gaps in financing for gender. Aclear example of this is seen in Art. 10 (3) ofthe Maputo Protocol which expressly callsfor reduction in military spending by statesin favour of social expenditure and women'srights in particular.

Art. 13 speaks to a broad range of eco-nomic and social welfare rights for Africanwomen such as 'the right to equal remuner-ation for jobs of equal value for men andwomen and the need to 'ensure the equalapplication of taxation laws to women andmen ' as well as the need to 'recognise theeconomic value of the work of women inthe home'. It also refers to the specific con-ditions that States must ensure in order torealise these rights, including systems forsocial insurance, for instance.

The African Union (AU) ConstitutiveAct promotes women's empowerment andgender equality whilst the AU's GenderPolicy provides a roadmap for implement-ing the AU's responsibilities on women's

rights. The AU has further led the charge onensuring women's roles in decision-makingwith the unprecedented Gender ParityPrinciple to concretise the fifty-fifty genderbalance in the African Union Commission(AUC).

In 2004 the Solemn Declaration onGender Equality in Africa (SDGEA) wasadopted with Member States committing toaccelerate gender equality at all levels and in2009 the African Union Commissiondeclared 2010-2020 as the AfricanWomen's Decade providing a framework toaccelerate the implementation of commit-ments on gender equality at all levels.

Indeed, there is ostensibly a renewedwave of vigour towards achieving gender

equality both globally and on the Africancontinent with the introduction of Agenda2030 (the Sustainable Development Goals)and Agenda 2063 (the African Union'sVision and Action Plan for transformation)that are both dynamic development frame-works that place gender equality firmly attheir centre.

Agenda 2030The Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs) are the seventeen (17) recentlyendorsed (September 25th 2015) UN goalsadopted by 193 countries that aim to endpoverty, protect the planet and ensure pros-perity for all by the year 2030. The globalsustainable development agenda is alsocommonly referred to as Agenda 2030.

It is important to note that these global

and regional frameworks are not mutuallyexclusive and thus should not be viewed ormonitored in isolation. In actuality thismeans that member states' national actionplans must be guided by regional, continen-tal and international frameworks that areviewed holistically.

The Addis Ababa Action Agenda(AAAA) agreed upon in July 2015 at the3rd International Conference on Financingfor Development clearly highlights thecomplimentarity between global andregional frameworks by providing a clearroadmap for financing the global sustain-able development goals (Agenda 2030) inAfrica.

Through the AAAA 'countries agreedto an array of measures aimed at wideningthe revenue base, improving tax collection,and combating tax evasion and illicit finan-cial flows'. Crucially, the Agenda identifiesthe clear gap in funding for gender equalitygiven that currently 'the gender financinggap ranges from 60 to 90 per cent in manycountries'. The AAAA makes concrete rec-ommendations including a standalone andtransformative goal on achieving genderequality and women's empowerment andhas '32 specific references to gender equali-ty in relation to various aspects of financingsustainable development.

Beyond the domestic revenue base,'developed countries ...annually contributeless to the overseas development assistance(ODA) than the required $46.1 billion' andthe AAAA highlights this issue. However,more concrete assertions as to the failurethus far of ODA to adequately accommo-date women's specific needs such as sexualand reproductive health and rights (toname but one of many issues uniquelyaffecting women and girls in Africa) wouldhave been welcome.

The Sustainable Development Goal ongender equality (Agenda 2030) calls forequality between women and men. GoalNumber 5 aims to '(a)chieve gender equal-ity and empower all women and girls' byensuring member states not only developpolicies but also allocate financing for theprovision of public services, infrastructureand social protection to promote genderequality.' But on any journey, it is impera-tive that the destination is clear and defined.What does economic empowerment looklike for African women and how will effec-tive financing ensure we reach this prover-bial 'promised land'? Broadly speakingempowerment means access to economic

“Without gender equality,

women's empowerment and

the realization of women's

human rights, sustained eco-

nomic growth and develop-

ment will remain out of reach

for African nations. Yet despite

this, women continue to be

exploited and their contribu-

tions to society and the econo-

my as a whole uncounted,

unrecognised and under

remunerated. “

GENDER


resources and opportunities; jobs, financialservices, property and other productiveassets, skills development and market infor-mation, unimpeded and freedom from vio-lence and other societal ills that negativelyand disproportionately affect and disadvan-tage women and girls.

What this in effect translates to is finan-cial incentives and support; technology andinfrastructure; the creation of economicopportunity; capability building; advocacyand shaping attitudes; and laws, policies,and regulations to secure the prosperousfuture of Africa as a whole, men and womenalike and together.

Less PayGlobally, women on average are paid

24 per cent less than men, more often thannot for equal work. 75% of the work Africanwomen are engaged in is in the informalsector, rendering them vulnerable given thelack of basic services such as health insur-ance, maternity leave or pensions which areessentially tantamount to indirect taxes asthey translate to out of pocket expendituresthat they can ill afford. This means govern-ments must ensure the promotion of equalpay and decent work, including living wagesthereby empowering African women asagents of their own economic well-being.

According to the report of the HighLevel Panel on Illicit Financial Flows, con-vened jointly by the African Union and theUN Economic Commission for Africa,Africa loses $50 billion annually throughillicit financial outflows to developed coun-tries. The inequality in taxation and illicitflows has a number of effects on women.Firstly, governments experience deficits intheir budgets and to compensate raise indi-rect taxes such as VAT on goods and servic-es. This response typically has a dispropor-tionate effect on poor women in particularwho traditionally spend more on goodssubject to value added tax (food, sanitaryitems).

When there are budgetary cuts it ismost often social welfare expenditure that isfirst on the chopping block thereby furthercompromising poor people and in particu-lar African women who have become theface of poverty in Africa. The less tax acountry collects, the less it has and willspend on women's rights.

One of the strategies central to reme-dying this is gender responsive budgeting(GRB) which 'provides a set of tools andmethodologies to maintain a gendered

approach throughout the fiscal policy cycle,ensuring women's needs are resourced'.

Progressive tax policy and genderresponsive investment in social and physi-cal infrastructure is central to achieving this.If GRB is to have the desired effect, the newfinancing for development architecturemust ensure adequate training and capacitybuilding on the approach for all concernedgovernment departments as the strategywill only fall on deaf ears particularly if theneed for it and its proper application are notonly poorly articulated, but also under-resourced. In addition, in order to ensure agendered approach to financing for devel-opment, there must be transparent andongoing (not just before elections!) consul-tations with women's groups (and civil soci-ety as a whole) and open publication andaccess to budgetary information.

EmpowermentAs far as economic empowerment of

women is concerned, agriculture is a mas-sive component given the significantreliance on the agricultural sector in Africa.Women in Africa provide almost 70% ofagricultural labour and produce 90% of thefood yet own significantly less land thanmen. On average, across 10 countries inAfrica, only 12% of women report owningland individually.

It is staggering to realise that agricul-tural outputs in Africa could increase by upto 20% if women's access to agriculturalinputs was equal to men's . It is a fact thatthe vast majority of African women areengaged in agriculture and that it is an indis-pensable source of income for them andtheir families. It is clear therefore that thereis need for financing simple time-savingtechnologies, like maize grinders to makethese tasks less labour intensive, greateraccess to credit for small scale women farm-ers and legal reforms that will ensure greaterland ownership for women, among othermeasures.

Financing for gender is central to anumber of key development priorities.With regards to access to education, itextends to achieving gender parity at pri-mary and tertiary levels in order to broadenwomen's employment opportunities whichis only possible if there is adequate invest-ment in infrastructure and services that ren-der this possible; which includes financingsocial services that allow young mothers toreturn to school.

Appropriate financing for gender sensi-tive priorities is a crucial discussion withregard to the recognition, reduction andredistribution of women's unpaid care workwhich plays a crucial role in maintaining themarket economy. There is need, forinstance, to invest in initiatives that shiftperceptions, norms and roles about carework and to create a strong tax base for gov-ernment spending on measures to reducethe burden on women and girls (e.g. accessto water sources, care services for the elder-ly).

Government plans and budgets withregards to gender equality are simply notspeaking the same language given the sus-tained funding deficit. This discouraginglypoints at a lack of political will veiled in lipservice and paper commitments. It goeswithout saying therefore that while newAfrican and global frameworks have set newand ambitious targets, this is not enough.The call for implementation of existingframeworks for gender equality is not a newone but is no less poignant and true if we areto truly herald an era of progress and pros-perity for African women and girls.

* Brenda Muturi is the Pan Africa GenderJustice Lead at Oxfam GB based in Nairobi,Kenya. The article is culled from Pambazuka.

“Appropriate financing for

gender sensitive priorities is a

crucial discussion with regard

to the recognition, reduction

and redistribution of women's

unpaid care work which plays a

crucial role in maintaining the

market economy.”


The plunder of Africa's fish stock by foreign vessels continues unabated despite attempts to

stem it and calls for an end to the practice writes *Christopher Pala.

In 2011, Dyhia Belhabib was a volunteerin the Fisheries Centre at the Universityof British Columbia in Vancouver when

she was asked to participate in the SeaAround Us's project to determine howmuch fish had been taken out of the world'soceans since 1950 in order to better avoiddepleting the remaining populations of fish.

Belhabib had studied fisheries sciencein her native Algeria, so she was initiallyasked to oversee the Algeria component.She ended up leading the research in 24

countries. And though she was an expertand an African, over the next five years, theworld of African fisheries took her from sur-prise to surprise, many of them disquieting,just like Voltaire's Candide. And echoingPangloss, who repeats “All is for the best inthe best of possible worlds” to a Candidedismayed at the state of the world, the Foodand Agriculture Organization insisted theworld catch was “practically stable.”

“The most depressing thing for me wasthe realization that African countries got no

benefit at all from all the foreign fleets,” shesaid. “In fact, the fishing communities suf-fered a lot, and in most places, the only peo-ple who made money were the governmentofficials who sold the fishing licenses.”

The study found that the global catchwas 40 percent higher than the FAO report-ed and is falling at three times the agency'srate. But under this picture of decline,Belhabib uncovered a dazzling array ofcheating methods that highlighted the lowpriority most governments place on fisheries

African fisheries plunderedby foreign fleets

ENVIRONMENT


ENVIRONMENT

management - and implicitly on the healthof the people who depend on the sea formost of their animal protein.

When Belhabib started with Algeria,she was puzzled to see that the governmentreported to the International Commissionfor the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas(ICCAT) that between 2001 and 2006, ithad fished 2,000 tons of bluefin tuna onaverage, and yet reported to the FAO that ithad caught almost none. Belhabib discov-ered that for once, the FAO's zero catch wasnot a metaphor for “We have no data,” asthe study found in many countries. In fact,undeterred by the fact the Algerian fisher-men didn't know how to fish tuna withlong-line vessels, the government had sim-ply bought some boats and sold their quotasto countries that did, notably Japan andItaly.

Western SaharaThe next country she tackled was

Morocco, which took over the WesternSahara in 1975 over the objections of itsnomadic people and the international com-munity. The territory has unusually richwaters and two-thirds of Morocco's catchcomes from there. The study estimated thelocal value of the catch since 1950 at 100billion dollars, but since it was almostentirely sold in Europe at twice the price,the real value of the catch was 200 billion

dollars.Had the Moroccan government insist-

ed that foreign fleets pay 20 percent of thatvalue, as the EU claims it does today inMorocco (in fact, the study found it pays 5percent), it could have received a revenuestream of one billion dollars a year, which,had it gone entirely to the Western Sahara,would have doubled the GDP per capita of2,500 dollars a year for its 500,000 people.Under the current agreement, the EU pays180 million dollars for access to all ofMorocco's waters, or 120 million dollars foraccess to the Western Sahara's waters. Howmuch actually goes to the territory isunclear. Other nations pay far less.

Mauritania has a fleet of locally flaggedRussian and Chinese large trawlers thathaul in whole schools of small blue-waterfish called sardinella. The coast is studdedwith idle processing plants built to turnthem into fish meal, which is used as animalfeed. Belhabib discovered that the shipswere reporting to the government only atiny fraction of their actual haul - some of itillegally taken from neighboring countriesand selling the rest for higher prices inEurope. “The authorities had no idea,” shesaid. “They thought their fleet were landingand reporting their whole catch.”

In Senegal, which unlike Mauritaniahas a strong tradition of fishing, PresidentMacky Sall expelled the Russians in 2012

because their ships had depleted the popu-lations of sardinella, infuriating manySenegalese. “The Russians just got licensesin Guinea Bissau and went back to Senegaland continued to fish, though not as much,”Belhabib said.

The Senegal reconstruction also docu-mented how the European bottom-trawlersseverely depleted the country's near-shore.As population pressure increased demandfor cheap fish, the number of artisanal fish-ermen soared, and many went to work upthe coast in Mauritania, where few peoplefish. But a conflict in 1989 with Mauritaniaresulted in the expulsion of thousands ofSenegalese fishermen, even as the industrialfleets were increasing their catch off bothcountries, most of it stolen.

DesperationOut of desperation, hundreds of

Senegalese fishermen and dozens of canoesover the past decade have been boardingKorean and Portuguese converted trawlersthat drop them off near the coasts of othercountries. There, they illegally drop baitedhooks into underwater canyons out of thereach of bottom trawlers where large, high-value fish can still be taken. These spots,marine biologists say, have served as marinereserves, places where coveted, overfishedspecies could reproduce unhindered - andare now being depleted too, pushing thestocks closer to collapse.

Belhabib's team also discovered to herhorror that subsidized European Unionfleets had flocked to the waters of countriesweakened by civil war, notably Sierra Leoneand Liberia, increasing their stolen catchwhen the people needed cheap proteinmost.

They found that South Africa made noattempt to control or even report the exten-sive fishery in the rich waters off itsNamibian colony; in 1969, for example, 4.8million tons of fish worth 6.2 million dollarswere caught, but only 13 tons were reportedto the FAO. Today, Namibia has the best-managed fishery in Africa after effectivelybanning foreign-flagged fleets

Finally, examinations of illegal fishingdetermined that Spain, whose seafood con-sumption is double the European average,steals more fish than any other nation, fol-lowed by China and Japan.

* Christopher Pala wrote this for the IPS fromWashington DC.

Small catch for Africa’s fisherfolk


ENVIRONMENT

Drought-prone southern Madagascar is facing yet another food emergency this year. An

unusually strong El Niño season means the rains have failed once more. Prices in local markets

have skyrocketed, leaving more than 665,000 people in urgent need of food aid

reports *Will Worley.

This giant Indian Ocean island is oneof the most vulnerable countries inthe world to natural disaster.

Madagascar's semi-arid, deep southernregions of Androy, Anosy, and AtsimoAndrefana have faced emergencies yearupon year. The recent El Niño has justmade an already bad situation worse.

Dami is nearly three years old but

weighs only 6.9 kilograms. Underneath hisdusty white t-shirt and blue shorts, his limbsare about the size of a carrot but his belly isswollen: a sure sign of malnutrition.

He sucks on a sachet of high-energyPlumpy'Nut, a peanut-based, ready-to-eatfood. When he fumbles and drops the pack-et on the ground, his sister snatches it upand chews at it: she is also hungry.

Tempting cactiThe current drought, one of the worst

seen, has scorched rice and cassava crops,leaving 80 percent of people without asecure food supply. Many agrarian commu-nities are now reliant on food aid - and cacti.

“This drought is the worst I have everseen. Last year, there was drought, but wehad some rain. But this year there has been

A crisis 'lost in the ocean'- drought and climate change in Madagascar


ENVIRONMENT

almost nothing”The red fruit of the cacti is an emer-

gency food in the south, but they are hard todigest and can cause bowel problems thatexacerbate the effects of malnutrition.

Dami is one of eight children born to38-year-old Ambahinky Kazy, who is poorand struggles to find work. She wants herchildren to become teachers, but none ofthem have been to school.

Dami was given the Plumpy'Nut fol-lowing a UNICEF screening in Ambondrovillage, in Androy region. The examinationfound his mid-upper arm circumferencewas just 10 centimetres: in the danger zone.It takes up to 90 sachets of Plumpy'Nut fora child to recover, but this is made difficultas families often regard the “medicine” asfood, sharing it out among other hungrysiblings.

Kazy has been in and out of theUNICEF programme with her differentchildren over a period of four years, a factthat underlines the region's unrelentingpoverty.

Nearly one million children inMadagascar suffer from acute malnutrition,and the island nation has one of the highestrates of under-five stunting in the world.

The malnutrition crisis is the mainhealth issue for the government, accordingto Health Minister Mamy LalatianaAndriamanarivo. It “continues to be alarm-ing for us, especially in the south”, he said.

Weak responseWhile the government says it considers

tackling the food crisis a priority, its effortsare stifled by poor funding (much of thehealth budget is reliant on foreign aid) andimplementation issues. It has made littleprogress in building resilience in communi-ties vulnerable to climatic shocks, and infra-structure is crumbling: more roads are lostthan are built each year.

It's partly the lasting impact of a four-year political crisis during which donorsfroze development assistance. That “affect-ed government institutional capacity, eco-nomic growth and social developmentefforts”, says the World Food Programme.Food insecurity doesn't affect just poor sin-gle mothers and their children. The entirecommunity is impacted.

“I always worry, every day,” said DamyMiarorala, the mayor of Ambondro. “Thisdrought is the worst I have ever seen. Lastyear, there was drought, but we had somerain. But this year there has been almost

nothing.”There were deaths last year - especially

among children - due to malnutrition, andreports again this year that people are suc-cumbing.

“My worst worry is the deaths frompeople not eating. Some people are eatingthe red cactus, which is bad for theirhealth,” said Miarorala.

The mayor's friend, Malafeno, laughedwhen asked if he was hungry, and showedoff his baggy clothes. When the clothes fit-ted properly, he weighed 90 kilograms.Now, he is down to just 63.

Under the radarIt's hard for Madagascar to get the help

it needs as it's “a bit lost in the ocean”,explained Willem van Milink, the country'sWFP representative.

Madagascar is “off the map” and for-gotten by the international community, sayaid workers. Its food crisis is grinding andconstantly severe but lacks the dramaticnumbers or cataclysmic event needed togain significant relief and developmentattention from donors.

“We have nothing left to grab on to...We are just waiting for death to come”

Yet, the drought is likely already asymptom of one of the most pressing glob-al issues: climate change.

Rains have not fallen as they should forfive years, according to Chief Voasaotsy ofAnjampaly village in the Tsihombe district.A hailstorm in 2010 destroyed their crop ofmaize, sweet potatoes, and watermelon.The soil then became less fertile and theharvest has not recovered since.

“We have nothing left to grab on to,”

said Voasaotsy. He scraped the spines off acactus leaf and bit into it, demonstratinghow the villagers eat, outside of their once-daily ration of maize delivered by WFP.

His desperation was evident as heexplained how the villagers had to sell theirproperty and livestock to buy food, whichthey used to grow themselves. Half the vil-lage has migrated, moving north. Theremaining half cannot sell their land aseveryone wants to leave. At least five peoplehave died of hunger.

“Our life is waiting upon the rain,”Voasaotsy continued. “But we are hopeless.We are just waiting for death to come.”

*Will Worley wrote this report for IRIN.

“While the government says it

considers tackling the food

crisis a priority, its efforts are

stifled by poor funding (much

of the health budget is reliant

on foreign aid) and implemen-

tation issues. It has made little

progress in building resilience

in communities vulnerable to

climatic shocks, and infras

tructure is crumbling: more

roads are lost than are built

each year.”


POLITICS

Three flags fly in a dirt lot outside thelocal administrator's office in theSouth Sudanese town of Terekeka.

The middle one is especially bright: a newgreen flag emblazoned with a rhinoceros,the word TEREKEKA printed in whiteblock letters underneath. It was recentlyraised to replace an older flag using thesame design but representing CentralEquatorial State.

One of South Sudan's 10 originalstates, Central Equatorial has been split intothree: Terekeka, Jubek and Yei, each withits own flag, local commissioner, and insti-tutions.

President Salva Kiir has done likewiseacross the country, reorganising SouthSudan into 28 states, largely along ethniclines. He announced the policy in October2015 and implemented it in December2015 despite objections from the UN, theinternational community, and, most impor-tantly, the opposition - led by former vicepresident Riek Machar.

Machar's return to Juba late Aprilmarked the end of a two-and-a-half-yearcivil war in which government and opposi-tion forces alike committed mass atrocitiesagainst civilians, including murder, rape,and the use of child soldiers. Much of the

brutality took place along ethnic lines, withKiir's Dinka soldiers targeting civilians ofMachar's Nuer people, and vice versa.

The two sides signed a peace agree-ment in Addis Ababa in 2015, and Machar'sreturn marked a step forward, at leastenabling the formation of a transitionalunity government. But other parts of theagreement seem forgotten or outrightignored - most obviously, Kiir has ploughedon with implementing his 28-states policywithout waiting for an independent com-mission to evaluate the move.

Terekeka, on the banks of the Nile, is athree hours' drive north up bumpy red dirt

The trouble in Africa's youngest state seems endless as it moves from one challenge to the

other writes *Alice Su.

South Sudan's challenges

Salva Kiir - South Sudan President vrs Riek Marchar - Vice President

POLITICS


roads from Juba. The road was quiet, but-terflies flitting in the spring breeze as cattleherders shooed bellowing white-hornedcows across the road.

But violence had broken out just a fewdays previously in Mangala County, on theborder between the new Terekeka andJubek states. Mangala has historically beendisputed territory, with the Mundari peopleof Terekeka and the Bari of today's Jubekboth claiming the area as their own.

Under a united Central EquatorialState, tensions had faded, especially asmany Mundari and Bari inter-married.Now that there's a border between the two,both sides want this piece of land, especial-ly since it includes a profitable sugar factoryand river port.

FlagOn 7 May, the newly-appointed com-

missioner of Mangala County, Elario PauloFataki, held an inauguration celebration inMangala, tearing down the old flag and rais-ing a Jubek flag instead.

Local Mundari youth resisted andfighting broke out between them andFataki's security detail. Three soldiers andone woman were killed in the clashes and1,200 people fled their homes in fear.

“I was going to my place to raise myflag, and the Mundari youth attacked ourcelebration,” Fataki said in a phone inter-view. “The youths from Terekeka startedthe shooting.”

Mangala should belong to Jubek underthe president's decree, Fataki said, and hesaw no reason to seek local approval to holdhis ceremony there. “I don't need to tell theother commissioner (of Terekeka) any-thing,” he said, defiantly.

In Terekeka, Minister of InformationModi Lomindi disagreed. “What happenedwas uncalled for. I condemn the actiondone by my colleagues in Jubek state,” hetold IRIN.

“If an area is contested, you cannottake it by force,” Lomindi said. “You cometo celebrate in someone's home. You teardown their flag and put your own. [Doesthat make it] your house?”

Despite the clashes, Lomindi support-ed the 28-states initiative as he said havingtheir own state would help Terekeka'sMundari obtain better services at a grass-roots level. “We wanted this federal systemwith more counties. This is a gift,” he said.“We know our own problems better thansomeone who is not a son of this place.”

But civil society leaders argue that the28-states policy is a form of gerrymanderingthat will exacerbate South Sudan's problemof tribalism over nationalism.

“A federal system is one whereresources and power are not at the centre.There should be power for citizens to holdthe leader accountable. Is that what this is?”asked Edmund Yakani, director of theCommunity Empowerment for ProgressOrganization (CEPO).

Yakani fears that splitting South Sudanfurther along ethnic lines will only heightenthe country's risk of conflict, as has alreadyhappened in Mangala.

More than 5 million people needhumanitarian assistance as a result of thecivil war

“We are living in a state where you haveethnicity at the centre of political strength.Your ethnic identity is greater than yoursense of nation or citizenship,” he said.

“The danger is this easily promotessecession and further splits. We used thisidentity game to split from Sudan, and nowthey're using it within South Sudan. Thelikelihood of secession is rising, and if itfails, we'll end up like Somalia.”

EthnicityEthnic identity is not a problem in

itself, said Winnie Gulliver, programmemanager at the South Sudan ActionNetwork on Small Arms. Rather, she sug-gested that it has been the politicisation ofethnic identity and the militarisation of pol-itics - combined with the proliferation ofsmall arms and lack of national civic educa-tion - that has devastated the country.

“[Politicians] used tribal identity in thesame way they used sexual violence, as aweapon of war,” Gulliver explained. “That'sthe problem.”

Mori Misak, a programme officer atCEPO, said that most South Sudanese lackunderstanding of the peace process, the 28-states issue, or even the roots of the conflict.

“The masses hardly know that the issuewhich sparked this conflict was distributionof power and party reforms,” he said. “Wehave corruption and no proper checks andbalances. Money stays in the top layer ofgovernment and doesn't reach the people.”

These were the real issues, not ethnicdifferences, Misak said. The process bywhich the 28 states were decreed - withoutconsultation and in violation of the peaceagreement - only demonstrate SouthSudan's lack of political inclusion or

accountability, he added.In Mangala, the fighting has stopped,

but the border remains unclear, withTerekeka and Jubek both insisting thecounty belongs to them. On 1 June, Kiirand Machar announced the formation of a15-member committee to review “the issueof the 28 states”.

However, when pressed on the details,Kiir's press secretary Ateny Wek told RadioTamazuj that the committee would onlydiscuss the 28 states' borders, not the num-ber of states itself. “It's impossible that itcould be less than 28 states,” Wek said.

Meanwhile, spokespeople fromMachar's camp, and the minority leader inparliament, Onyoti Adigo, insisted thatonly 10 states are valid.

“We will not accept 28 states,” Adigotold Radio Tamazuj. “There is no room for28 states or 13 states or 50 states, and wedemand 10 states according to the agree-ment.”

Whether the political will and diplo-matic skill is there to resolve this peacefullyremains to be seen.

* An IRIN feature

“We are living in a state where

you have ethnicity at the

centre of political strength.

Your ethnic identity is greater

than your sense of nation or

citizenship. The danger is this

easily promotes secession and

further splits. We used this

identity game to split from

Sudan, and now they're using

it within South Sudan. The

likelihood of secession is rising,

and if it fails, we'll end up like

Somalia.”


INTERNATIONAL

The free trade agreement, which wassigned in New Zealand on Feb. 4, isnow pending parliamentary

approval in the 12 countries of the bloc, in aprocess led by Malaysia. Chile, Mexico andPeru are the three Latin American partners.

The treaty will enter into effect twomonths after it has been ratified by all thesignatories, or if six or more countries,which together represent at least 85 percentof the total GDP of the 12 partners, haveratified it within two years.

“We are seeking a dialogue with like-

minded parliamentary groups that defendnational interests, and we provide themwith information. We want to use the parlia-ments as hubs, and we also want dialogueswith organisations from the United States,Canada and the Asian countries,” CarlosBedoya, a Peruvian activist with the LatinAmerican Network on Debt, Developmentand Rights (LATINDADD), told IPS.

Civil society groups in Peru created the“Our Rights Are Not Negotiable” coalition,to reject the most controversial parts of theagreement.

With similar initiatives, “A Better Chilewithout TPP” and “A Better Mexico with-out TPP”, non-governmental organisationsand civil society figures are protesting thenegative effects that the treaty would haveon their societies.

The activists complain that the intellec-tual property chapter of the agreement stip-ulates a minimum of five years of data pro-tection for clinical trials for Mexico andPeru. And in the case of biologics, the peri-od is three years for Mexico and 10 years forPeru.

Civil society organisations from Chile, Mexico and Peru are pressing their legislatures and those

of other countries not to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), writes *Emilio Godoy.

Civil Society in Latin America campaigns against Trans-Pacific

Partnership


INTERNATIONAL

In Chile, in both cases it will be fiveyears of protection, in line with its otherfree trade agreements.

These barriers delay cheaper, genericversions of drugs from entering the marketfor a longer period of time.

Another aspect criticised by activists isthat the member countries must submit dis-putes over investments to extraterritorialbodies, like the International Centre forSettlement of Investment Disputes(ICSID).

The alliances against the TPP also crit-icise the provisions for Internet serviceproviders to oversee content on the web inorder to control the distribution of materialthat violates copyright laws.

Latin American activists complain aswell about the U.S. demand that the part-ners reform domestic laws and regulationsto bring them into line with the TPP, in aprocess separate from or parallel to ratifica-tion by the legislature.

In addition, they protest thatWashington was given the role of certifyingthat each partner has faithfully implement-ed the agreement.

The TPP emerged from the expansionof an alliance signed in 2006 by Brunei,Chile, New Zealand and Singapore, withinthe framework of the Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation (APEC) forum.These countries were later joined byAustralia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico,Peru, the United States and Vietnam.

The agreement encompasses areas likecustoms, textiles, investment, telecommu-nications, e-commerce, dispute settlement,and labour and environmental issues.

The economies in the bloc represent40 percent of global GDP and 20 of worldtrade.

The TPP “has negative effects onhealth and economic development. It won'tbenefit our countries. But there will be alengthy debate, because it contains issuesthat generate conflict,” Carlos Figueroa, aChilean activist with his country's coalitionagainst the treaty, which encompasses 99organisations, prominent individuals andfive parliamentarians, told IPS.

Among its actions, the “A Better Chilewithout TPP” organises mass email cam-paigns to petition the government againstthe accord, promotes campaigns over thesocial networks, holds public demonstra-tions and is lobbying in parliament to blockapproval of the treaty.

In Mexico, conservative PresidentEnrique Peña Nieto has enough votes in the

Senate, which is responsible for ratifyinginternational accords, to approve the treaty,with the votes from the governingInstitutional Revolutionary Party, its allythe Green Party, and the opposition right-wing National Action Party.

In Chile, socialist President MichelleBachelet's centre-left alliance will be able tocount on enough votes from the right to rat-ify the agreement.

And in Peru, the party of President-elect Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a formerWorld Bank economist and Wall Streetbanker in favour of free trade, has only asmall number of seats in Congress. But arival right-wing party, Fuerza Popular,which has a broad majority in the legisla-ture, will approve the TPP, after the newgovernment takes office in July and the newlawmakers are sworn in.

But furthermore, in Peru, the contentof any free trade agreement does notrequire legislative approval unless it goesbeyond what was agreed in 2009 with theUnited States.

ImpactDespite attempts by governments of

the countries in the bloc to promote thepositive impacts of the TPP, recent reportscall the supposed benefits into question.

“Global Economic Prospects;Potential Macroeconomic Implications ofthe Trans-Pacific Partnership”, a reportpublished in January by the World Bank,projected that the treaty could boost theGDP of its members by 1.1 percent andtheir trade by 11 percent a year on averageby 2030.

In the case of Canada, Mexico and theUnited States, which have their own freetrade agreement, NAFTA, since 1994, thebenefit is just 0.6 percent of GDP.

And for Mexico, the positive impactwould be even more reduced, because thecuts in import duties give other members ofthe TPP greater access to the U.S. market,the document says.

Economists from Tufts University inthe U.S. state of Massachusetts had a morenegative view of the trade deal, predicting“increasing inequality and job losses in allparticipating economies.”

“Trading Down: Unemployment,Inequality and Other Risks of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement”, a study bythe Global Development and EnvironmentInstitute at Tufts University, estimates thatthe TPP would lead to employment loss inall member countries, with a total loss of

771,000 jobs, including 448,000 in theUnited States alone.

In Mexico, 78,000 jobs would be lost,and in Chile and Peru, 14,000.

The authors estimate that by 2025,Mexican exports will grow 6.2 percent andGDP one percent; Peru's exports will grow7.1 percent and GDP 1.4 percent; andChile's exports will grow 2.5 percent andGDP 0.9 percent.

For its part, the U.S. InternationalTrade Commission stated May 18, in itsreport “Trans-Pacific PartnershipAgreement: Likely Impact on the U.S.Economy and on Specific IndustrySectors”, that by 2032 the TPP would boostthe U.S. economy by an average of 0.01 per-cent a year and employment by 0.07 per-cent.

Enrique Dussel, coordinator of theChina/Mexico Studies Center at theNational Autonomous University ofMexico, questions Mexico's involvement inthe TPP without evaluating the conse-quences of further freeing up trade.

“There has been a 20-year learningprocess to know what works and what does-n't,” he told IPS. “TPP partners without freetrade agreements represent one percent oftrade with Mexico and one percent ofinvestment. The question is what do I dowith the remaining 99 percent, what focusdo I give trade and investment.”

NGOs in Latin America are hoping theU.S. election campaign will limit the debateon the TPP to Congress until the winner ofthe November elections takes office.

“That gives us a little time to fightagainst ratification. It will be a long battle,”said Bedoya.

Dussel anticipated three possible sce-narios. “In two years it goes into effect;there will be no TPP; or in the UnitedStates the new president will call for sub-stantial changes.”

* Emily Godoy wrote this from Mexico City.

“TPP partners without free

trade agreements represent

one percent of trade with

Mexico and one percent of

investment. The question is

what do I do with the remain-

ing 99 percent, what focus do I

give trade and investment.”

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